Description
The 10th anniversary of the distinguished Russian conductor Evgeny Svetlanov’s death was celebrated in May 2012 when ICA Classics released a coupling of Rachmaninov’s The Bells – Svetlanov’s last concert, and Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky, two composers very closely associated with the conductor. Rachmaninov was by his own account, Svetlanov’s favourite composer and this new ‘live’ recording of his Symphony No.2 from the Royal Festival Hall in 1993 with the Philharmonia Orchestra appears here for the first time. The recording is in excellent stereo and Svetlanov was at his most exciting when caught live. 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 has never been issued before. ICA has received wonderful reviews for Svetlanov’s recordings of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.1 and Stravinsky’s Firebird Ballet (ICAC 5007), Shostakovich Symphony No.10 (ICAC 5036) and most recently Rachmaninov’s The Bells and Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky (ICAC 5069).
