★★★★★
Slatkin concludes his second, superior Rachmaninov cycle - the latter on Naxos - with this disc, and it confirms his mastery of the composer's music. It also fortifies the notion that the Detroit Symphony Orchestra is both resurgent and enormously gifted. To my knowledge, this is the orchestra's first complete symphony cycle of any kind since Paul Paray's long forgotten take on the Schumann symphonies on Mercury, and in any event is their first and only project of this kind entirely in stereo...
- www.classical.net
2013-12-19
★★★★★
The first thing you're likely to notice about the performances on this CD is the transparency of sound. Naxos does a fine job of providing vivid sonics with excellent balance of the various instrumental sections and solo instruments, but Rachmaninov's orchestration is already rather threadbare, in the First Symphony at least, and thus allows for a good measure of transparency. Yet beyond this, I think Slatkin aims for crispness and clarity in disrobing the various layers of sound...
- www.classical.net
2013-11-09
★★★★★
Conductor Leonard Slatkin's previous Copland efforts for EMI and RCA have all been mostly excellent, and some have been reviewed in these pages. The EMI recordings in particular were known for both their completeness and sonic quality. These new recordings from Naxos are difficult to peg; on the one hand, there are issues that cannot be ignored. On the other hand, the excellent quality of this disc is persuasive...
- www.classical.net
2013-10-10
★★★★★
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra's last Rachmaninoff album for Naxos was very well received in all quarters, both for the excellence of the playing and for the terrific sound. Slatkin has recorded all three symphonies before, in St. Louis for Vox. Those are very good, but it's clear that these performances are going to surpass those as a whole. For one, Naxos certainly provides better sound, or maybe the fabled acoustics of Orchestra Hall deserve credit...
- www.classical.net
2013-06-11
★★★★★
This Naxos disc offers Rachmaninov's last two works, both of which are very important in his output even though they were largely ignored for decades. Today, the Symphonic Dances (1940) is programmed pretty regularly, although the Third Symphony (1936) is still nowhere near the standard repertory. Regarding Rachmaninov's last symphony, it is a fairly solid work but much of its music - really, the last two of its three movements - will strike the listener as Rachmaninov with a toned-down sense...
- www.classical.net
2013-06-11
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