Theatrical thrill is captured in this 2-CD set of live recordings of works by Rachmaninov, made in 2011 and 2013 at the Salle Pleyel, the Orchestre de Paris’s home until its move in early 2015 to the French capital’s new Philharmonie.

Rachmaninov’s haunting Symphony No.3, written in 1936, is the work of a composer in exile (he had settled in Switzerland) and is filled with nostalgia for Russia. A subtler, more restrained work than the expansive Symphony No.2 – which was written nearly three decades earlier while Rachmaninov was still living in his homeland – it comprises just three movements. It also ushers in the starker style of the composer’s late works, typified by Rachmaninov’s final composition, the haunting Symphonic Dances, written in America in 1940.

On these CDs, these two major works from the final decade of Rachmaninov’s live are complemented by two pieces from the 1890s, the Caprice Bohémien and the symphonic poem Le Rocher, and by the celebrated Vocalise, originally conceived in 1915 for voice and piano and later arranged for orchestra by the composer.

Paavo Järvi, one of Gramophone’s nominees for Artist of the Year 2015, holds positions with three other orchestras and makes guest appearances with the world’s leading ensembles. He feels, though, that the Orchestre de Paris has a very distinctive personality: “I’ve tried to analyse the reason why the woodwind, in particular, succeed in obtaining a colour that is simultaneously rich and transparent”, he says, “and I think this comes from the personality of each player. In other countries, the musicians are obsessed with producing a homogeneous sound. Here, they play together, of course, but, when it comes down to it, they also see themselves as soloists: that is the big difference.”