text: In 1920, Rachmaninoff signed a contract with the Victor Talking Machine Company (later RCA Victor). Unlike Edison, the company was pleased to comply with his requests, and proudly advertised Rachmaninoff as one of their prominent recording artists. He continued to record for Victor until 1942, when the American Federation of Musicians imposed a recording ban on their members in a strike over royalty payments. Rachmaninoff died in March 1943, over a year and a half before RCA Victor settled with the union and resumed commercial recording activity.
  When Rachmaninoff recorded his works, he would seek perfection, often re-recording them until he was satisfied. Particularly renowned are his renditions of Schumann's Carnaval and Chopin's Piano Sonata No. 2, along with many shorter pieces. He recorded all four of his piano concertos with the Philadelphia Orchestra; the first, third, and fourth concertos were recorded with Eugene Ormandy in 1939–41, and two versions of the second concerto with Leopold Stokowski in 1924 and 1929. He also made a recording of the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, soon after its first performance (1934) with the Philadelphians under Stokowski, in addition to three recordings he made as conductor with the Philadelphia Orchestra, playing his own Third Symphony, his symphonic poem Isle of the Dead, and his orchestration of Vocalise.