Rachmaninov’s final work – and the only one composed fully in the United States – was the Symphonic Dances. It embraces jazz elements and ecstatic expressiveness and is both a valediction and a summation of his creativity. The Isle of the Dead is a lamentation utilising a variant of the Dies irae – it is a stirring, transformative work that begins and ends in stillness. The early Caprice bohémien and Scherzo in D minor complete this programme of Leonard Slatkin’s admired Rachmaninov recordings on VOX, heard here newly remastered from the original tapes.

First released in 1982 as 4-VCL 9013X, these recordings are newly remastered from the original tapes.

Slatkin is now a major Naxos conductor with a wide portfolio of recordings to promote. He has re-recorded the Rachmaninov symphonies and other orchestral works with the Detroit Symphony, now boxed together on 8503278 but also available individually.

Slatkin and Abbey Simon recorded all four Rachmaninov piano concertos and the Paganini Rhapsody, which have been newly remastered on VOX Audiophile Edition.

Alongside the Slatkin/St Louis Rachmaninov recordings, the Abravanel/Tchaikovsky VOX reissues should also be promoted – shared Russian repertoire in idiomatic, well regarded and excellently recorded recordings.

The Elite Recordings for VOX by legendary producers Marc Aubort and Joanna Nickrenz are considered by audiophiles to be amongst the finest sounding examples of orchestral recordings.

‘At the very start of his career in St. Louis, he’s already fully in tune with the composer's darkly brooding, but also deeply Romantic sound world. Slatkin's work revitalized the St. Louis forces, and it's really not hard to see why.’ – Classical Net