The great Evgeny Svetlanov (1928–2002) was music director of the USSR State Orchestra (1965–2000) with permanent positions with the London Symphony Orchestra, the Residentie Orchestra in the Hague and with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. He frequently guest conducted the NHK Orchestra in Japan and the Orchestre National in Paris, as well as the Philharmonia Orchestra in London.

Rachmaninov was, by his own account, Svetlanov’s favourite composer. This new live recording of his Symphony No.2 from the Royal Festival Hall in 1993 with the Philharmonia Orchestra has never been issued before. The recording is in excellent stereo and Svetlanov was at his most exciting when caught live as opposed to working under studio conditions. This is a riveting performance.

To complete the CD is a rare live stereo recording of Svetlanov conducting Leonard Bernstein’s brilliant Candide Overture from the Edinburgh Festival in 1978. Svetlanov never recorded this in the studio and it appears here for the first time.

Contents:
Rachmaninov: Symphony No.2
Philharmonia Orchestra / Svetlanov
Royal Festival Hall, London, 15 March 1993

Bernstein: Candide Overture
London Symphony Orchestra / Svetlanov
Usher Hall, Edinburgh Festival, 28 August 1978