Gustav Mahler - The 10 Symphonies

2007; 58 tracks
Simon Rattle / Berliner Philharmoniker

Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic composer of Austrian / Bohemian descent.

I'd like it if I knew more about him, but at the moment I am at a loss of clever, insightful information regarding one of classical music's most famous contributor. Here are the 10 symphonies, no choral works can be found here.

The tenth symphony was Mahler's final work before his death, but he never fully completed the piece. Quite a few others have tried to finalize the work, tying up loose ends and such, but there is one attempt that has become a sort of standard for performances and recordings, and that is the revision of Deryck Cooke. There is much more information to be found on the subject here, and I'm only so interested in it because it is my favorite out of the ten.

Symphony No. 1 in D Major, "Titan"
Symphony No. 2 in C minor, "Resurrection"
Symphony No. 3 in D minor
Symphony No. 4 in G Major
Symphony No. 5 in C-sharp minor
Symphony No. 6 in A minor, "Tragic"
Symphony No. 7 in E minor, "Song of the Night"
Symphony No. 8 in E-flat Major, "Symphony of a Thousand"
Symphony No. 9 in D Major
Symphony No. 10 in F-sharp minor

Sergei Rachmaninoff - The Bells, Symphonic Dances, The Isle of the Dead

2001; 15 tracks
Valeri Polyansky / Russian State Symphony Orchestra

These links contain some of the lesser-known distinct Russian pieces by Rachmaninoff starting with the Scherzo, Rachmaninoff's first orchestral work, and finishing with his last, the Symphonic Dances. Also included is the overwhelmingly magnificent choral symphony The Bells.

The Scherzo (1887 or 1888) was written while Rachmaninoff was still a student. It is his first surviving orchestral work which has a rather light-hearted tone and not yet the typical Rachmaninoff sound. The next pieces for orchestra, Prince Rostislav (1891) and The Rock (1893) begin to show the composer's skill for writing program music and incorporating tone painting which would culminate in The Isle of the Dead (1990).

He wrote his most famous symphonic poem, The Isle of the Dead, Op. 29, in 1907 when living in Dresden. It is the music is Rachmaninoff all over - mysterious, beautifully and most effectively orchestrated, melodious and sombre. It's just all beautiful - nothing more amazing than another. I don't know how else to describe it.

Part 1
Part 2

Sergei Rachmaninoff - The 4 Piano Concertos

Stephen Hough, piano
Andrew Litton & the Dallas Symphony Orchestra

This is a fairly nice recording of the concertos, although I often sense that the strings overpower Hough's under-par piano playing. Abbey Simon's recording with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra / Leonard Slatkin is still my immediate go-to for these majestic works for piano & orchestra, and it most likely always will be.

I'm posting this because I know someone out there will enjoy Hough's interpretation(s), I'm sure. I would like to see Hough try to play what was written for at least a few consecutive measures without adding unnecessary personal touches more often. That would probably make for a nicer, more accurate recording... but I don't want to be rude, for he did a pretty nice job, and this isn't completely garbage, so I will end here.

Download.