Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Mariss Jansons - Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 27 (2016) [SACD]

The RCO's performance history of Sergei Rachmaninoff's Second Symphony is strangely uneven. Already three years after its completion the symphony was performed by Willem Mengelberg in a programme that also boasted the composer as soloist in his own Piano Concerto No. 3. After that the symphony was performed again in 1921 and then there's a gap of 59 years. From 1980 on no less than 10 conductors (including Vladimir Ashkenazy, Kirill Kondrashin and Kurt Sanderling) put it on the RCO's music stands.

Its latest RCO incarnation proved to be an ideal performance.: with Mariss Jansons at the helm, heart and mind of this piece were totally balanced and the opulence of the RCO's sound at the Concertgebouw was perfectly suited to Rachmaninoff's most beloved symphony.