Rachmaninoff's/ Rachmaninov's Symphonies

[DieNacht]

Own
I -
Litton,RPO
Rozhdestvensky,USSR SO
Ashkenazy,CtGeb
De Waart, Rotterdam PO
Weller,Suisse Romande

II -
Ashkenazy,CtGeb
De Waart,RotterdamPO
Weller,Suisse Romande
Rodzinski, New York PO
Gauk, USSR State RSO
De Waart,Rotterdam PO
Tung,Philharmonia
Mitropoulos,Minneapolis SO
Wallenstein,LosAngeles PO

III -
Ashkenazy,CtGeb
DeWaart,Rotterdam PO
Weller, Suisse Romande

Neither De Waart or Weller has been mentioned; De Waart is usually a middle-of-the-road conductor, cf. his Rimsky-Korsakov or Scriabin recordings for instance, but his Rachmaninov symphonies are really good, in the Scherzo of the 2nd for instance. Rozhdestvensky in the 1st is unusually fierce (Russian Revelation series), and Alfred Wallenstein´s 2nd magically intense, worth checking out. The Golovanov listed above would be a real find, didn´t know about it ...

Post scriptum: Gave the Weller II, Wallenstein II and Rozhdestvensky I an extra listen this morning; Weller´s set has had a rather discreet existence in my collection, but it is really great. Actually liked it at least as much as De Waart, very good and broad sound as well, the Scherzo just as lively as De Waart and even more differentiated, the first movement very dark. So: "Weller" -> "Weller". The Wallenstein is strange, there is a very restless undertone of nervousness in it.

[eyeresist]

Australian Eloquence issued the Weller cycle complete on two discs, after issuing (I think) 1 separately and 2 & 3 with Kletzki. All very good but haven't listened for a while.

Last time I got out my Ashkenazy set I was disappointed. That's what happens when you want seriously committed performances instead of runthroughs. Well, no, he's not THAT bad, but now I'm thinking Svetanov and Previn might be the way to go.

[Lethevich]

Last time I got out my Ashkenazy set I was disappointed. That's what happens when you want seriously committed performances instead of runthroughs.

I presume that you mean the famous Decca recordings? Have you heard anything about his later Exton recordings of the symphonies? I've been tempted by them.