Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 3; Vocalise; The Isle Of The Dead

Rachmaninoff’s tone poem "The Isle of the Dead" was composed in 1908-09, inspired by the 1880 painting of that name by the Swiss symbolist Arnold Böcklin. The painting depicts a ferryman rowing a coffin towards the Isle of the Dead, and Rachmaninoff, unusually setting the piece in five beats to the bar, captures the atmosphere and the motion of oars in the water in the most extraordinary detail. (Chandos)