Few recordings have remained in the catalog for nearly ninety years and still been considered unsurpassed, except insofar as recording technology is concerned; but the 1929 collaboration of Sergei Rachmaninov with Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra in the composer/pianist’s Second Concerto is surely one of them.
Yet, what is perhaps less well-known is that this recording has existed in two almost entirely different versions over the years, with a performance that was not Rachmaninov’s first choice being the only one available for half of its history. The present release brings the two together for the first time in masterful new transfers for Pristine by Mark Obert-Thorn.