Notes and Editorial Reviews
No one who cares about the piano, or the history of early 20th-century performance practice, can ignore Rachmaninov's imposing, priceless recorded legacy.
Although Sergei Rachmaninov considered himself first and foremost a composer, the last two decades of his life found him knee-deep in his "second career" as a touring concert pianist and recording artist. In 1992, RCA Gold Seal brought out all of Rachmaninov's recorded performances in a 10-disc set, now reprinted as a space-saving budget box. Astute collectors will note the absence of composite "alternate take" performances of the Beethoven Op. 30 No. 3 sonata with Fritz Kreisler and Rachmaninov's own Second Concerto (both released on Biddulph), as
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well as an earlier, rejected recording of the Bach/Rachmaninov Preludio that eventually came to light in a later RCA compilation. However, the most glaring gaffe concerns the total absence of discographical information that RCA generously provided for the 1992 set and its 1973 LP precedent. This is inexcusable. How can a listener peruse the table of contents and try to ascertain the provenance of works Rachmaninov recorded more than once? A reprint is in order, and not soon enough.
Aside from his justly famous, intensely idiosyncratic renditions of the Chopin Second Sonata and Schumann Carnaval, Rachmaninov's recorded solo repertoire mostly consists of short, encore-type works that fit comfortably on one or two 78-rpm sides. This had more to do with marketing than art. Whereas RCA Victor's British affiliate HMV busied itself with projects such as Schnabel's Beethoven Sonatas, Fischer in Bach's Well Tempered Clavier, or complete Chopin and Schumann cycles with Cortot, it's a shame that U.S. Victor didn't preserve Rachmaninov's interpretations of the large-scale works with which he triumphed in concert (Beethoven's Op. 111 and the Liszt Sonata, for example).
It's also known that Victor turned down Rachmaninov's suggestions that his last concert tour be recorded, and that he and Vladimir Horowitz record his Suites for Two Pianos. On the other hand Rachmaninov's services did not come cheap, nor did his perfectionist attitude toward the recording process. Yet whether in great or small works, just about every performance attests to Rachmaninov's powerful recreative personality and titanic workmanship. Whose jaws have not dropped upon hearing his casual dispatch of Henselt's murderous double-note etude, "Si Oiseau J'Etais"? What other pianist nails the treacherous skips in the Scherzo of Chopin's B-flat minor sonata with such unassailable authority? Who else can hurl the octaves in Chopin's C-sharp minor Scherzo with the same subjective intensity (maybe Argerich, but just maybe)?
Listen to Liszt's Gnomenreignen or E major Polonaise to sample Rachmaninov's trademark left-hand thrusts and motoric drive, or hear the two Mendelssohn Etudes for unflappable speed and rock-solid assurance. The "iron hand in a mink glove" cliché aptly applies to Rachmaninov's perpetually singing tone and aristocratic phrasing that allowed him to shape melodic lines with more authority than many singers. His Schubert song transcriptions bear this out, as well as his infallible support in the three collaborations with Kreisler.
Naturally Rachmaninov's frequently unorthodox conceptions will unsettle modern listeners in regard to liberties with tempos, dynamics, and sometimes the notes themselves. Yet you always infer that Rachmaninov's so-called "Romantic" devices are channeled toward specific musical ends. His interpretive "whims" usually sound inevitable rather than capricious. I'm thinking about the Chopin C-sharp minor Waltz, where the rubato appears to be meted out in measured increments, and the middle section is painstakingly yet gorgeously voiced. The pianist's cannily orchestrated tempo fluctuations throughout Beethoven's C minor Variations make you regret that the work was abridged to fit across two 12-inch sides.
I often sense that Rachmaninov lavished his most creative interpretations on composers other than himself while playing his own music relatively straight--indeed, indifferently in the Third Concerto (he makes big cuts in the third movement, and strangely jettisons that sublime chromatic sequence eight bars before number 11 in the first movement). Conversely, Rachmaninov conducts his Third Synphony and The Isle of the Dead, obtaining surging brio and textual transparency from the usually lush Philadelphia Orchestra strings.
A great deal of care and restoration savvy went into Ward Marston's 1992 transfers. Marston told me that his tapes subsequently were processed (not by him) via the CEDAR noise reduction system. They sound fine in and of themselves, but I've since heard Rachmaninov transfers boasting more brightness and dynamic impact (Naxos' edition of the concertos, for example). Notwithstanding my editorial carping, no one who cares about the piano, or the history of early 20th-century performance practice, can ignore Rachmaninov's imposing, priceless recorded legacy.
--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com
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Works on This Recording
1.
Concerto for Piano no 2 in C minor, Op. 18 by Sergei Rachmaninov
Performer:
Sergei Rachmaninov (Piano)
Conductor:
Leopold Stokowski
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philadelphia Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: Russia
Date of Recording: 1924
Length: 31 Minutes 33 Secs.
Notes: Composition written: Russia (1900 - 1901).
2.
Concerto for Piano no 3 in D minor, Op. 30 by Sergei Rachmaninov
Performer:
Sergei Rachmaninov (Piano)
Conductor:
Eugene Ormandy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philadelphia Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1909; Russia
Length: 34 Minutes 1 Secs.
Notes: 1939 - 1940
3.
Concerto for Piano no 1 in F sharp minor, Op. 1 by Sergei Rachmaninov
Performer:
Sergei Rachmaninov (Piano)
Conductor:
Eugene Ormandy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philadelphia Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1891/1917; Russia
Length: 24 Minutes 51 Secs.
Notes: 1939 - 1940
4.
Concerto for Piano no 4 in G minor, Op. 40 by Sergei Rachmaninov
Performer:
Sergei Rachmaninov (Piano)
Conductor:
Eugene Ormandy
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philadelphia Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1926/1941; USA
Date of Recording: 12/20/1941
Length: 24 Minutes 39 Secs.
5.
Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini, Op. 43 by Sergei Rachmaninov
Performer:
Sergei Rachmaninov (Piano)
Conductor:
Leopold Stokowski
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philadelphia Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1934; USA
Date of Recording: 12/24/1934
Length: 22 Minutes 10 Secs.
6.
Isle of the Dead, Op. 29 by Sergei Rachmaninov
Conductor:
Sergei Rachmaninov
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philadelphia Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1909; Russia
Date of Recording: 04/20/1929
Length: 18 Minutes 6 Secs.
7.
Songs (14), Op. 34: no 14, Vocalise by Sergei Rachmaninov
Conductor:
Sergei Rachmaninov
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philadelphia Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1912-1915; Russia
Date of Recording: 04/20/1929
Length: 3 Minutes 49 Secs.
Notes: Composition written: Russia (1912 - 1915).
8.
Symphony no 3 in A minor, Op. 44 by Sergei Rachmaninov
Conductor:
Sergei Rachmaninov
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Philadelphia Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1936/1938; USA
Date of Recording: 12/11/1939
Length: 36 Minutes 50 Secs.
24.
Melodie de Gluck by Giovanni Sgambati
Performer:
Sergei Rachmaninov (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: Italy
Date of Recording: 05/14/1925
Length: 3 Minutes 26 Secs.
29.
Transcription of Kreisler's "Liebesfreud" for piano by Sergei Rachmaninov
Performer:
Sergei Rachmaninov (Piano)
Period: Post-Romantic
Written: 1921; Austria
Date of Recording: 12/29/1929
Length: 4 Minutes 59 Secs.
Notes: Arranged: Rachmaninov
This selection is featured twice. The first performance was recorded on
December 29, 1925 with a timing of 6 minutes and 59 seconds. The second was recorded on February 26, 1942 with a timing of 4 minutes and 59 seconds.
Arranger: Sergei Rachmaninov.
31.
Carnaval, Op. 9 by Robert Schumann
Performer:
Sergei Rachmaninov (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1833-1835; Germany
Date of Recording: 04/1929
Length: 23 Minutes 1 Secs.
37.
Waltz for Piano in E minor, B 56 by Frédéric Chopin
Performer:
Sergei Rachmaninov (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1830; Poland
Date of Recording: 02/18/1930
Length: 1 Minutes 44 Secs.
41.
Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 61: Scherzo by Felix Mendelssohn
Performer:
Sergei Rachmaninov (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1842; Germany
Date of Recording: 12/23/1935
Length: 3 Minutes 58 Secs.
Notes: Arranger: Sergei Rachmaninov.
42.
Die schöne Müllerin, D 795/Op. 25: no 2, Wohin? by Franz Schubert
Performer:
Sergei Rachmaninov (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1823; Vienna, Austria
Date of Recording: 12/29/1925
Length: 2 Minutes 19 Secs.
Notes: Arranger: Sergei Rachmaninov.
43.
Lachtäubchen (Behr) "Polka de W.R." by Sergei Rachmaninov
Performer:
Sergei Rachmaninov (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1911
Date of Recording: 04/23/1919
Length: 3 Minutes 47 Secs.
46.
Hopak by Modest Mussorgsky
Performer:
Sergei Rachmaninov (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1866/1868; Russia
Date of Recording: 04/13/1925
Length: 1 Minutes 46 Secs.
Notes: Arranger: Sergei Rachmaninov.
47.
Songs (6), Op. 16: no 1, Cradle song by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Performer:
Sergei Rachmaninov (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Date of Recording: 02/26/1942
Length: 4 Minutes 0 Secs.
Notes: Arranger: Sergei Rachmaninov.
49.
Ruins of Athens, Op. 113: no 5, Marcia alla turca by Ludwig van Beethoven
Performer:
Sergei Rachmaninov (Piano)
Period: Classical
Written: 1811; Vienna, Austria
Date of Recording: 12/13/1925
Length: 3 Minutes 1 Secs.
Notes: Arranger: Anton Rubinstein.
50.
Scherzo for Piano in A flat major by Alexander Borodin
Performer:
Sergei Rachmaninov (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1885; Russia
Date of Recording: 12/23/1935
Length: 2 Minutes 57 Secs.
51.
Les saisons, Op. 37b: no 11, Novembre "Troika" by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Performer:
Sergei Rachmaninov (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: Russia
Date of Recording: 05/03/1920
Length: 3 Minutes 49 Secs.
Notes: Composition written: Russia (1875 - 1876).
53.
Man lebt nur einmal, Op. 167 by Johann Strauss Jr.
Performer:
Sergei Rachmaninov (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1855; Vienna, Austria
Date of Recording: 04/05/1927
Length: 6 Minutes 57 Secs.
Notes: Arranger: Carl Tausig.
54.
Polka italienne for Piano 4 Hands by Sergei Rachmaninov
Performer:
Natalie Rachmaninov (Piano),
Sergei Rachmaninov (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: ?1906; Russia
Date of Recording: 1938
Length: 1 Minutes 19 Secs.
61.
Songs (6), Op. 38: no 3, Daisies by Sergei Rachmaninov
Performer:
Sergei Rachmaninov (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1916; Russia
Date of Recording: 03/18/1940
Length: 2 Minutes 9 Secs.
Notes: Version: 1940
65.
Songs (12), Op. 21: no 5, Lilacs by Sergei Rachmaninov
Performer:
Sergei Rachmaninov (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1902; Russia
Date of Recording: 12/27/1923
Length: 2 Minutes 29 Secs.
Notes: Arranger: Sergei Rachmaninov.
76.
L'arlésienne: Suite no 1 - 2nd movement, Menuet by Georges Bizet
Performer:
Sergei Rachmaninov (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1872; France
Date of Recording: 02/24/1922
Length: 2 Minutes 41 Secs.
Notes: Arranger: Sergei Rachmaninov.
77.
Carnival of the animals: no 13, The swan by Camille Saint-Saëns
Performer:
Sergei Rachmaninov (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1886; France
Date of Recording: 12/30/1924
Length: 3 Minutes 1 Secs.
Notes: Arranger: Alexander Siloti.
91.
Liebesleid by Fritz Kreisler
Performer:
Sergei Rachmaninov (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: Austria
Date of Recording: 10/25/1921
Length: 4 Minutes 19 Secs.
Notes: Arranger: Sergei Rachmaninov.
93.
Pastorale in E minor by Domenico Scarlatti
Performer:
Sergei Rachmaninov (Piano)
Period: Baroque
Written: 18th Century
Date of Recording: 04/19/1919
Length: 3 Minutes 59 Secs.
Notes: Arranger: Carl Tausig.
96.
Powder and paint by Sergei Rachmaninov
Performer:
Sergei Rachmaninov (Piano),
Nadezhda Plevitskaya (Mezzo Soprano)
Period: Romantic
Written: Russia
Date of Recording: 02/22/1926
Length: 3 Minutes 45 Secs.
Language: Russian
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