Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 2

�...here is a performance warmed by musicians who clearly love this symphony. On the whole this is a very 'straight' account, Slatkin only occasionally 'point-making'...but generally his tempos seem so sympathetically chosen that the music speaks eloquently� --BBC Music Magazine, June 2010 ****

�Well-played and with a recorded sound that faithfully reproduces the distinctive blend of richness and subtlety in Rachmaninoff�s orchestration, the performance is pliable but unexaggerated, poignant and powerful...there is a genuine heart and soul to it as well.� --The Telegraph, 20th January 2010 ****

In the wake of his First Symphony�s catastrophic premi�re, Rachmaninov took a decade before commencing his Second, painstakingly revising it before conducting the triumphant premi�re in 1908.

Although haunted, like his First, by the Dies irae chant melody, the Second Symphony brims with Rachmaninov�s revitalised assurance as a composer, from its brooding opening to the vigorous grandeur of its conclusion.

This disc marks the start of a new collaborative relationship between Naxos and the Detroit SO under Leonard Slatkin..

�One could argue that no conductor today comprehends this music or frames its rugged profile more eloquently than Slatkin. This was a magnificent performance, a testament to the DSO's collective virtuosity and a ringing promise of a new chapter in its annals.� Detroit News on Slatkin�s inaugural concert as the conductor of the DSO