Welcome to ‘Dodd’s Discoveries’, a review series from NativeDSD Senior Music Reviewer Bill Dodd. This series focuses on Bill’s latest selections, with new reviews regularly. And the best part… the albums featured in the most current review will be available at a reduced price! Click the button below to see all of Dodd’s Discoveries and to find the current album(s) on sale.
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Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 3 & Ravel: La Valse
€17,99 – €30,99
Here’s a delightful discovery from Dmitry Liss and the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra.
Ravel’s La Valse starts as a tribute to the Viennese waltz, but by the last few minutes, you know you have fallen into a bad dream. Liss and his players do a superb job of capturing this feeling. It’s said that Ravel wanted to portray the effects that World War I had on European culture. There’s an ominous quality to the very beginning, that suggests the madness coming later.
I’m a lover of Rachmaninoff’s Symphony no. 3. I wouldn’t want to be without Stokowski’s 1975 recording. He was 93, and it was nearly 40 years after he premiered the symphony in 1936. It’s a dramatic performance with obvious emotional conviction, a performance for the ages.
So why am I talking about this album from Liss and his Ural Philharmonic? It’s different, it’s refreshing, and it makes you hear different aspects of the work. This performance, recorded in 2022, has clarity and precision, but also emotional depth. I like it! I’ll be returning to it often.
I like this pairing very much. While the Ravel La Valse premiered 16 years before the Rachmaninoff Third, I think each makes you feel the uncertainties of the world between the World Wars. The recording quality is excellent.
You might also like this previous discovery from the same forces:
Stravinsky: Petrushka
Exclusively Available in Stereo DSD 512, DSD 256, DSD 128 and DSD 64 at NativeDSD
