Recordings

These reissues of rare recordings of two Russian symphonies we don’t hear much about these days were made in Rome in 1949. They concern us here because Rachmilovich, though a forgotten name, was a Russian-born conductor who happened to found the Santa Monica Symphony in 1945 and lead it for three years. He was, based on the evidence of these performances, flashy and a bit contrary. The epic Gliere symphony from 1911 is a race; the Kabalevsky from 1934 is eagerly splashy Soviet music and is played with more reasonable gusto. The Rome orchestra is appealingly valiant if undernourished. A curiosity.

*

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).