Evgeny Svetlanov & USSR Symphony Orchestra -Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 1; Isle Of The Dead – Evgeny Svetlanov, Ussr Symphony Orchestra (2018)

Following Tchaikovsky's premature death in 1893 after the premiere of his Sixth Symphony, there was an opening at the top for the greatest living Russian symphonist job. Two years later, three composers turned in their applications: Kalinnikov with his lyric First Symphony in G minor, Rachmaninov with his dramatic First Symphony in D minor, and Glazunov with his majestic Fifth Symphony in B flat major. Kalinnikov's First was a huge hit at its premiere, but tuberculosis ended his career along with his life six years later. Rachmaninov's First was a huge flop at its premiere and a subsequent nervous breakdown prevented him from composing again for six years. Glazunov's Fifth was a solid success and its composer, self-evidently the greatest living Russian symphonist, continued to write symphonies at regular intervals until he stalled in sketches for the first movement of his Ninth 15 years later. It later turned out that the reason Rachmaninov's First failed was because the conductor was drunk on the podium -- and the irony is that the conductor was Glazunov.

Be that as it may, Rachmaninov never allowed the work to be played again in his lifetime, and his First Symphony received its second performance reconstructed from orchestral parts in 1945 -- 60 years after it was composed. It is that First heard here in Evgeny Svetlanov's 1966 recording with the USSR State Symphony Orchestra -- and a lollapalooza it is. A conductor noted more often for his sweetness than for his strength, Svetlanov is a man on a mission here, driving tempos, prodding developments, pushing climaxes, pulling every ounce of power out of every note. With an unwavering belief in the greatness of the music, Svetlanov creates a searing orchestral work unified around its Biblical epitaph from Tolstoy's Anna Karenina: "Vengeance is mine, I will repay." There is fire and brimstone in his opening Grave, terror and passion in his Allegro ma non troppo and Allegro animato, agony and ecstasy in his Larghetto, and a ride to the abyss in his closing Allegro con fuoco. Coupled with a crushing version of the eternally fashionable The Isle of the Dead, Svetlanov's performance of the First retroactively gives the greatest post-Tchaikovsky Russian symphonist job to Rachmaninov. Regis' remastered Soviet stereo sound is huge and monolithic.