"For many people it's Rachmaninov's masterpiece" Simon Rattle referring to "The Bells" - Count me as one of those - an extraordinary work, one of the greatest musical compositions of all time!
Tempi are on the ponderous side. Rattle phrases in the wrong way with false accents and unidiomatic playing. Rachmaninov is better served by Previn,Ormandy,Ashkenazy and above all Svetlanov.
Nice video, though I do think Rattle was being a bit obvious when he says THE BELLS is like a symphony and then refers to sleigh bells, wedding bells, alarm bells, etc. Not very helpful to show it's like a symphony! What he should have said and obviously meant is the wedding bells section was the slow movement of a symphony, the alarm bells section was the scherzo of a symphony, etc.
