Ansermet: Rachmaninov Isle of the Dead / Dukas La Peri - London LL-1155

Jacket: EX  /  Vinyl: NM  /  UK pressing This beautiful and rare LP from London (LL 1155, LP pressed in England by Decca / jacket printed in the USA/ red/gold label, mono – no stereo edition exists) features Ernest Ansermet’s magnificent accounts of Rachmaninov’s symphonic poem The Isle of the Dead Op. 29 and Dukas’ La péri - poème dansé*, both recorded with L’Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire in the spacious acoustics of the Maison de la Mutualité, Paris on 20* and 23 September 1954. This is the only composition of Rachmaninov’s to feature in Ansermet’s vast discography and it is imbued with a dark and powerful sense of atmosphere. The Dukas is equally captivating. Wrote the critic M.M. in her review for the March 1955 issue of The Gramophone: “Arnold Böcklin's picture The Isle of the Dead depicts a rock rising out of the sea, with cypresses surrounding an inlet; a boat approaches, carrying a white coffin and a white-shrouded figure. Rachmaninov chose it as the emo