Listened to some Rachmaninov thirds - one was pretty great, one was merely okay, and one was just bad - naturally the latter has been raved about by everyone on Amazon, which just proves they know nothing about this music or what orchestration is. There is a moment in the slow movement that happens about a minute in that is one of my favorite moments in all of music - and I'll just say the flutes have line that MAKES that moment - you can't even hear them on this raved about recording. Fail. And for sale. And the sound is like there's a blanket over the speakers - I'm not sure how anyone can rave about such sound but they do, Blanche, they do. His second symphony is a bit better sound-wise, but even though he's not quite as long as the longest one he has no idea how to keep the music shaped and interesting. The Russian conductor who does the longest version understands completely the music's shape and one is never bored. The Stokowski third is bad-sounding and actually mediocre, but he was ninety-two and about to die when he recorded it. He premiered the piece in the late 30s - I'd like to hear THAT. But the version by Paul Kletzki, whose second I really enjoyed, is terrific. Nothing has bested the Ormandy in the ravishing moment department, but these two will be the ones I listen to, along with the William Weller, which is also nice. The Ashkenazy, also much lauded by all, doesn't do much for me at all.
