Symphonic Dances, op. 45 / The Isle of the Dead, op. 29

This release is an album of orchestral works by Sergei Rachmaninov, composed in 1940 and 1908 respectively. Musically it juxtaposes late-Romantic orchestration and broad, sweeping melodic writing with darker, atmospheric sonorities, dense harmonic colours and rhythmic drive, with the later piece functioning as the composer's final large-scale orchestral statement and the earlier work exemplifying his pictorial, programme-driven approach.