As pianist as well as conductor, Vladimir Ashkenazy has had a love affair with fellow Russian Rachmaninov for more than half a century. Through his recordings of the Op 39 Études-tableaux, he urged us to hear not just the popular emotionalism of this composer but the seriousness too. Ashkenazy’s authority is one attraction of this performance of Symphony No 1, which had such a disastrous, under-rehearsed premiere in 1897. Ashkenazy knows how to shape detail and soar in the big melodic moments. The Philharmonia sound is muscular and alert, from the opening woodwind solos to the mighty, stirring symphonic tutti of the finale. A short (43.23 min) but absorbing disc.
