The Sunday Musical Offering - The Music of Sergei Rachmaninov

Today I celebrate one of my all time favorite composers, Sergei Rachmaninoff, with a treasure trove of musical examples that will keep you listening well into the next hour or so.

A Russian composer, pianist, and conductor, Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music. His music had a pronounced lyricism, expressive breadth, structural ingenuity, and a tonal palette of rich, distinctive orchestral colors. The first selection is perhaps my favorite of all symphonies (only the four symphonies by Johannes Brahms hold a higher place of priviledge in my heart.): this is the Symphony No. 2 with Andre Previn leading the NHK Symphony Orchestra. The second selection is the first movement from the Second Piano Concerto with Hélène Grimaud as soloist and Claudio Abbado conducting.

The Isle of the Dead, Op. 29, is a symphonic poem inspired by Arnold Böcklin's painting, Isle of the Dead, which the composer saw in Paris in 1907. I learned to love this piece in High School when our music director selected it as one of the compositions of an all Rachmaninoff program for our School/Community Project. Here it is led by Sir Andrew Davis and the Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra.

The Spring Cantata Op. 20, is a single-movement cantata for baritone, chorus and orchestra, written in 1902. The work is based on a poem by Nikolay Nekrasov and describes the return of the Zelyoniy shum, or "green rustle". The poem tells of a husband who, fraught with murderous thoughts towards his unfaithful wife during the winter season, is ultimately freed from his frustration and choler by the return of spring. Here it is performed by the State Symphony Orchestra of the Republic of Tatarstan under their Artistic Director Alexander Sladkovsky.

The Bells Op. 35, is a choral symphony written in 1913. The words are from the poem The Bells by Edgar Allan Poe, very freely translated into Russian by the symbolist poet Konstantin Balmont. The traditional Gregorian melody Dies Irae is used frequently throughout the work. It was one of Rachmaninoff's two favorite compositions and is considered by some to be his secular choral masterpiece. Rachmaninoff called the work both a choral symphony and his Third Symphony shortly after writing it; however, he would later write a purely instrumental Third Symphony during his years in exile. This recent performance took place in Boston with the BU Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.

Finally the Vocalise, originally one of fourteen songs of the composer's Opus 34, is included here simply because my wife adores Joshua Bell. A performance recorded live at the BBC Proms in 2007. Enjoy, Kathy!

Love One Another - Brian