VIDEO REVIEW
Sergei RACHMANINOV
(1873-1943)
Memories
Rachmaninov's Letters and other reminiscences spoken by
Sir John Gielgud
Specially commissioned performances conducted by Valery Gergiev
Directed by Tony Palmer
Published in 1998/99.
WARNER MUSIC/NVC Arts Video
3984-25386-3 [102 mins]
This video was a most welcome Christmas present for I missed the programme
when it was originally broadcast on TV. This excellent documentary shot in
Russia Switzerland and America was made with the full participation of the
composer's grandson Alexander Rachmaninov. He is seen being welcomed to the
restored country house at Ivanovka south of Moscow where Rachmaninov had
composed all his greatest music but which had been looted and torched by
revolutionaries.
Featuring soloists Mikhail Pletnev (with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
conducted by Claudio Abbado and his own Russian National Orchestra) as well
as Dmitri Hvorostovsky and rising young stars, Valentina Igoshina (piano),
Peter Jablonski (piano) and Nikolai Putilin (bass), the music was specially
recorded by Valery Gergiev and the Kirov Orchestra and Choir at the Mariinsky
Theatre in St Petersburg with which Rachmaninov himself was intimately
associated. Excerpts from many Rachmaninov works are featured including:
the three symphonies, Piano Concertos 2 and 3 and the Rhapsody on a Theme
of Paganini; Isle of the Dead; Symphonic Dances; Aleko; The Miserly
Knight; The Dream; Christ is Risen; Liturgy of St John Chrysostom; Variations
on a Theme of Corelli and the Preludes in C sharp minor, G minor, and
B minor.
The film traces the composer's life in Russia, his early struggles and successes
before fleeing from his beloved homeland in 1917 never to return; his career
as concert pianist and conductor, necessitated to support his family; and
his late compositions inspired by Senar, his idyllic home near Lucerne, that
he had to flee for Los Angeles during World War II. Rachmaninov's own words
are spoken by Sir John Gielgud who occasionally sounds just a bit too deliberate
and affected for my taste. There are many, many interesting photographs and
professional and home movie film footage of the composer and comments from
others of his descendants.
This is a well-rounded portrait of a warm, generous man who contrary to received
impressions seems to have had a great sense of humour and who enjoyed the
good things of life like fast cars and boats etc., rather than being perpetually
morose and obsessively concerned with death. This video is strongly recommended
for all admirers of Rachmaninov.
Ian Lace
