In his atmospheric rendition of Rachmaninov’s The Rock, conductor Alexander Anissimov delights in the Rimsky-Korsakov-style fantasy of the music while emphasizing its drama, making this one of the best recordings since Walter Weller’s fluid and expressive reading on Decca (which, along with his Rachmaninov symphonies has yet to see laser light). Though it might not seem so at first, The Rock actually makes a nice lead-in to The Bells, with its somber sounds gently usurped by the joyful ringing of the celesta and flutes. Joyful also describes Anissimov’s performance of The Bells’ first movement. After tenor Ivan Choupenitch’s record long-held note on “Slyshish”, the chorus enters exuberantly though not with the voluminous massed sonority of the Russian Republican Capelle for Kondrashin.
The RTÉ Philharmonic Choir, an Irish-based ensemble, makes a pretty impressive show of itself throughout this performance, not least for its convincingly Slavic sound. Ireland’s National Symphony also transcends geography, paradoxically sounding more Russian than Pletnev’s Russian National band does on his recent Deutsche Grammophon recording. For this Anissimov certainly deserves the credit: listen to how his trumpets peal against the strings in the second movement’s great ascending orchestral interlude, or how in the finale the winds and brass snarl like ghostly specters from the yet-to-be-composed Symphonic Dances. Helen Field’s singing in the wedding song is at once soothing and seductive, while Oleg Melnikov intones the bells of death with the requisite gravity and sense of finality. Despite the enormous dynamic range inherent in this work, Naxos’ recording captures it all vividly, managing to convey both size and detail. Budget or no, these are Bells you ought to hear.
