USSR State Symphony Orchestra
Evgeny Svetlanov, conductor
Written abroad, the symphony is often seen as Rachmaninov’s reflection on Russia — noble in restraint, deeply moving, and imbued with that unmistakable Rachmaninov sound.
“The Third Symphony is the most vivid and most honest embodiment in music of a struggle — a doomed struggle from the very start — against the pain and despair that come with an overwhelming longing for one’s homeland. It is the anguish of a man no longer young, who knows that he will never return home.” – J. B. Priestley, English writer and playwright