Oh dear! Only last February I was suggesting that Jarvi on Chandos may have stretched the Brahms Quartet (in Schoenberg's orchestration) to beyond the boundaries acceptable for this most classically rigorous of romantic composers. Would Brahms have sanctioned slower tempos if he had to consider this quartet as a contender for inclusion into his symphonic canon? (Agreed—a faintly ludicrous hypothesis!) There's no evidence to suggest Schoenberg felt as much. But Rozhdestvensky mostly adds to Jarvi's timings. In fact, the Intermezzo second movement is the only one in Rozhdestvensky's otherwise dirge-like approach to the piece that flows at a reasonable speed.
My heart sank when I saw the timings for the Andante—13'07'' here (Tilson Thomas on CBS takes 9'50'', Rattle on EMI 10'49'')—like Jarvi's, it's an Adagio, but unlike Jarvi, Rozhdestvensky takes little heed of the animato marking for the central march. The result is intolerably heavy. And I don't think I've ever heard such a lifeless account of the final Rondo alla zingarese: Rozhdestvensky's minim=63ish is a pretty moderate allegro in my book (the marking is presto). The absurdity of launching the movement at this speed is confirmed by the fact that he has to speed up at bar 968 (3'02'') for the meno presto.
You may baulk at Schoenberg's arsenal of twentieth-century effects in the orchestration of the Brahms, but the effort, at least, remains an impressive homage from one giant to another within a recognizable cultural tradition. Respighi, courtesy of the awesome amplitude and distant, wide-screen spectacle of the Collins sound balance, takes the Rachmaninov pieces straight into the tradition of Hollywood. The very specific character of these tableaux seems generalized by Respighi's over gilded palette. How much more effectively for example, does the piano original of the ''Marche funebre'' (Op. 39 No. 7) suggest the ''fine rain, incessant and hopeless'' (Rachmaninov's post hoc description) and the pealing bells of the climax. One longs to be more involved in ''La mer et les mouettes'' (Op. 39 No. 2) which here becomes just a distantly drifting, trance inducing melancholy seascape. Sharper focus, in both musical characterization and engineering is needed throughout.'