This recording, nominated for a Grammy for Best Choral Performance (Other Than Opera) in 1983, is another result of the superb team from Elite Productions, Marc Aubort and Joanna Nickrenz. This follow-up volume (as originally released on a multi-LP set of Rachmaninov Orchestral Music) to the successful Rachmaninov symphonies by Leonard Slatkin and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra comprised (at the time) the most comprehensive recording project ever done of Rachmaninov’s orchestral compositions.

Leonard Slatkin was music director of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra from 1979-1996, though he had previously been assistant conductor of the orchestra in 1968. Maestro Slatkin has been considered one of the finest conductors of his generation, subsequently holding music directorships in the US for the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, DC, and, most recently, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

Marianna Christos, second prize winner of the 1975 Metropolian Opera National Auditions, made her professional debut in the fall of 1975 with the New York City Opera as Liu in Turandot. She has since sung with many of the leading opera companies in the United States, including Lyric Opera of Chicago.

A native of Atlanta, Georgia, Walter Planté was principal lyric tenor of the Vereinigte Städtische, Bühnen, Germany. He was also principal tenor of the Israel National Opea in Tel Aviv, singing a variety of roles from Bizet’s Carmen to Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin.

Arnold Voketaitis has sung with nearly every major opera company in the United States and Europe. He was in the first national tour with the Metropolitan Opera Company, and has performed as a concert singer as well, appearing with many major orchestras and conductors.