Rachmaninoff: Symphony no.2 op.27 - Radio Filharmonisch Orkest - Complete live concert in HD

Part of Rachmaninoff's Symphony no.2 was used in the movie Birdman, check it out in our classical music in the movies compilation video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4h0sCHd7Eg

people who don't even try classical music are missing out so bad. I don't know how anyone could dislike this.

The adagio is the most beautiful piece of music ever written. To me nothing even comes close. I can listen to it endlessly.

If Rachmaninoff had composed a Violin Concerto we'd have flying cars by now

This may sound crazy, but this piece of music is so emotional that I have to ration myself. When I listen to it, it is spinning around my head for months. Does anyone else feel the same way?

00:39 Largo. Allegro moderato 21:19 Scherzo (allegro molto) 31:57 Adagio 47:11 Allegro vivace

The third movement is one of the most beautiful things in life

The third movement is absolutely one of the most beautiful things in the world, no doubt about that‼🎶🎵👍😉

A friend of mine in tenth grade, back around 1967, suggested that I listen to this. I knew next to nothing about classical music since I was a total devotee of rock and roll. This symphony helped transform my life. It expressly sounded forth what I had been feeling in my heart from my youth, though I didn't know it at first. The Adagio remains my all-time favorite piece of classical works. It still takes me to places that are majestic and mysterious, pulling me back to God. He does, indeed, invite us to feel.

That is Russian soul. True face of God. An incredible journey into world of longings and galaxy. Rachmaninov was late romantic genius. His music is ethernal chat with angels and souls of past. The third movement is just... incredible. It restores faith in humanity. A true treasure of art, poetry and music.  

The adagio melts my soul. Everyone should listen to this masterpiece at least once per day. Simply brilliant.

It is a wonder that Rachmaninov composed another symphony after the disatrous premier of his first symphony. A bad conductor, an un -rehearsed orchestra, and terrible reviews led to his mental breakdown. He found a physician that could get him back on track. He took his family to Dresden, Germany where he got to making music. He was scheduled to tour the United States. He was better known as a conductor at this time. He conducted the premiere of this work and got back his confidence. It was noted at the time that his performance took a little over an hour. The fact that this work was very long began the shortening of the composition by many conductors. On YouTube we see the symphony played at many different speeds. To shorten the work repeats are not played, speeds are whatever a conductor wishes, or whatever. This video gives us about the right speed for the composer. At under 50 minutes we can conclude that we are not hearing the whole of the work. Since Rachmaninov is considered our most Romantic composer the slower speed will be the way we want to hear it. Everything about this video seems just fine. A great hall, fine orchestra, and a competent conductor. About the way we expect the composer to conduct the work.

In 1992, I was hired to go to Jamaica and bring a 53' Gulfstar motorsailor back to Fort Lauderdale. The trip was the most adventurous and tumultuous I have ever done, and for reasons I will not write about here. Many moments stand out from that voyage but the most remarkable concerns this music. I had the morning watch from 0600-0800 as we approached the passage between the southeast point of Cuba to the west and Haiti to the east. We had gone through a tough night and had a tropical depression pass over that torn away the mainsail. Fortunately, the old "iron jenny" kept turning. The crew was passed out below and I was alone at the helm listening to Rachmaninoff #2 on an old Sony Walkman cassette player. We were right in the middle of the Windward Passage. As the sun rose it illuminated the steep, dry, rocky coast of southern Cuba east of Guantanamo about 25 miles to the north. To my right I could barely make out the dim outline of the mountains of the northern Haitian peninsula at Cap a Foux. It was an awe inspiring sight. With the blue Caribbean Sea all around me, having survived the toughest storm I have ever been through, and this music in my ears damned if I did not feel like Francis Drake. It is a moment that will live with me until they feed me to the fish.

This music is literally the most beautifully written suite in existence. I have actually played this music with my orchestra, the City of Belfast Youth Orchestra, and there was nothing more satisfying than coming in to orchestra every week and getting to play this absolutely monstrous but beautiful piece. It is so difficult to put this suite together, especially when working with people all below the age of twenty or so. We took this on tour with us to Italy and the great sense of pride and accomplishment I took away from our performances of this will stay with me forever. Such a fabulously composed suite, I could not have asked for more of a challenge and more of a beauty to play.

The third movement just makes me want to cry it’s so beautiful!

Never found a more beautiful melody than the 3rd movement in my life.

Classical music needs to be listened over and over again, ideally in a quiet, restful environment. Listening once only is not enough.

06:00-09:00. Possibly the most beautiful three minutes of music ever written. Everyone always talks about the adagio with this piece, but for me the hidden gem is the largo.

Could you imagine sitting in an orchestral hall and listening to the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra and listening to Rachmaninoff conducting his 2nd Symphony? I wish I could say I did this, but at 85, I am too young to say I did. This symphony knocks me out and if I want an emotional moment with lots of tears, I will turn this on. Yearning is the word for many moments of this symphony. Rach yearns magnificently! How could heaven contain this yearning human being who is no longer with us except in his music: an eternal yearning!!

There are parts of this symphony that are so achingly beautiful I find my self choking tears back. And this is a fabulous performance. No wonder this work is performed around the world. And what a tribute to the psychoanalyst who helped Rachmaninoff to recover from a terrible depression. Kudos to everyone, including the videographers.