With the sad passing of Gennadi Rozhdestvensky at the age of 88 what do posters reckon to a list of his greatest recordings. For what’s it’s worth – and this off the top of my head – here is mine, just for starters
Prokofiev Romeo & Juliet complete ballet
mono, Melodiya – and still the most thrilling ever recorded
the other Prokofiev ballets, and the symphonies
no-one captured the glare and rage of No. 2 like GR and I’d love to hear his Edinburgh Festival No. 3 again – 1960s. Had a reel-to-reel of it, now long gone
Tchaikovsky Francesca da Rimini/Khachaturian Gayaneh – Leningrad Phil at its greatest
… DG with a Sabre Dance that’s as terrifying when the playing is quiet as when it’s loud (and VERY loud)
Tchaikovsky symphonies and ballets (Melodiya)
emotionally arresting but well structured readings (ie, in the symphonies)
Glazunov complete symphonies (Melodiya)
Readings that honour the music’s ballet groundsprings, but that also make the symphonies add up AS symphonies
Vaughan Williams complete symphonies (Melodiya)
(Melodiya) – Not. 4 and 6 sound almost like Shostakovich
Please add your own suggestions.
robccowan 
Manfred on BBC Classics with Moscow Radio Orchestra from the Proms. Just a wow(!) performance that’s got so much excitement and passion it’s overwhelming.
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Must listen again! Thanks Neil …
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I did like his Bruckner Symphonies, particularly the 8th with the State Symphony Capella of Russia.
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Yes and the very early symphonies too
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Yes. Love your Classic FM show. I live in the States. However, miss you at the Proms, and on BBC, particularly your marathon show, Essential Classics. I most miss, however, when you are a “guest” on Record Review with Andrew McGregor. But I love the Saturday night show, (afternoon, here), on Classic FM. Thanks. Joe
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Thanks so much Joseph. Well I try to do on Saturdays at classicfm.com roughly the sorts of things that I used to do on Radio 3 but, yes, Andrew was great and I always felt that our chats with musical illustrations made some sort of impact. In fact I was assured by Universal that it was only because of our coverage of the second Mercury ‘Living Presence’ box that there ever was a third! Even now things come out that leave me aching to give them that kind of treatment – the new Nézet-Séguin Rotterdam collection, for example, and various Scribendum sets. I’m trying to piece together ideas for CFM that might embrace the same sort of area. We’ll see. But thanks again and best wishes. Rob
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All his Schnittke symphonies. Better than most. He was my introduction to Schnittke and until today I rarely hear a performance bettered by someone else.
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Just his sort of rep! Best. Rob
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