Born in Baku in 1945,
Rabinovitch-Barakovsky studied piano
with Benjamin Fleischmann and composition
with Kabalevsky and Piroumov at the
Moscow Conservatory. He left the USSR
in 1974 and moved to Geneva. His repertoire
as a performer concentrates on the Romantics.
He has made many recordings in piano
duo with Martha Argerich, for Teldec
and EMI (Rachmaninov, Brahms, Mozart,
Dukas, Richard Strauss and Ravel). He
is active as a conductor, working with
the Orchestra da camera di Padova e
del Veneto and with the Sinfonia Varsovia.
His compositions have been performed
in Venice, Graz, Witten, London, Moscow,
Cologne, Salzburg, Zurich, Munich, Paris,
Tokyo and Milan. Patrick De Clerck’s
heroically committed Megadisc label
based in Belgium has done much for him
as can be seen from the list at the
end of this review. (Acknowledgement
to the Argerich Foundation site for
much of this information).
Rabinovitch-Barakovsky
can loosely be aligned with the lambent
minimalist-melodic trends apparent from
the works of various fellow Russians:
Nikolai Korndorf (try: Hymn II and Hymn
III with Catherine Bott and BBC Symphony
Orchestra/Alexander Lazarev on Sony
Classical SK66824), Alemdar Karamanov
(try: Olympia Explorer OCD486 of symphonies
20 and 23 with the USSRSO/Fedoseyev
and Decca 452 850-2D in which Ashkenazy
conducts the Deutsches Symphony Orchestra,
Berlin in No. 22, "Let it be"
and No. 23, "I am Jesus")
and, to an extent, Valentin Silvestrov
in his Fifth Symphony (a composer also
championed by Megadisc).
The composer’s style
has been pretty consistent across the
years and whatever philosophy underlies
the music (and note-writer Brenno Boccadoro
has much to say about this in the booklet)
the music is tonal and leans on repetition
and micro-changes in themes and rhythms.
These works are often active at the
soprano or sopranino heights of the
scale. The Six Etats revel
voluptuously bell-like, in whirling
minimalistic exultation. This music
suggests instinctive reactions around
a theme closely related to the orgiastic
ecstasy of Rachmaninov’s music for The
Bells. I have in mind the section
where the overwhelming Russian spring
is invoked with an excitement barely
controllable just before the female
choir comes in vertiginously high in
the register. Later we pick up intense
convulsive echoes of Rachmaninov’s Piano
Concerto No. 4 amid roaring brass figures
in La Transe. Rachmaninov references
are not in short supply and it is interesting
that Rabinovitch-Barakovsky recorded
the Symphonic Dances and the
two two-piano suites with Argerich on
Teldec 9031747172 in 1992 recently reissued
on Warner Elatus 0927496112. The third
movement concludes with a gentle wind-down
with highlights touched in by guitar.
In the second movement the theme is
Tchaikovskian and balletic; fleetingly
recalling something from Swan Lake.
Throughout, the more vigorous moments
suggest a pared-down Messiaen (no surprise
to learn that he recorded Vision
de l’Amen with Argerich on EMI Classics
CDC 7540502) concentrating on iterative
note-cells rather than the French composer’s
voluptuous profusion. And all those
echo-emphasised synthesisers and organs
will strike a ready chord with music
buffs who know Herrmann’s music for
the films Journey to Centre of the
Earth and The Day the Earth Stood
Still. The fourth movement is slower
and quieter but just as rhythmically
insistent. The finale conveys a sense
of the risen sun and of warmth. The
same insistent rising rhythmic figure
(the one that recalls The Bells),
part icy and part ecstatic reappears,
ending the work in glowing contentment.
Musique Populaire blends
the liveliness of Rachmaninov with an
eager and aggressive edge-of-seat excitement.
This is Beethoven-like: a wild fantasia
related to the opening of Waldstein
and of the Fifth Symphony. The music
is punishingly insistent until it finally
and gradually subsides into capricious
nocturnal flurries and flourishes.
In the Triade
concerto the soloist is part
high priest; part hortator. The violin
goads the music along - a flaming Valkyrie
ride mixed with Hungarian virtuosity.
Insistently whirling energy storms,
stabs and parries all underpinned by
light percussion. The whole effect is
slightly manic at one moment and at
the next gamelan and mantra-like. The
piece ends dreamily with material that
is still noticeably the same but at
a decelerated pulse. Once again we get
that same slow wind-down; clearly a
Rabinovitch-Barakovsky hallmark. Here
the farewell is accompanied by the whispering
ascends and descends of violins dying
into the void. The soloist finally exhorts
to dreams and trances rather than to
action. The Invocations is
by far the most impressive and likeable
piece here. The same surge-repeated
treatment applies here varied by the
textures of the string quartet. The
celesta (played by the composer) is
prominent in the last two movements.
It is as if one of the percussive rhythms
at the end of Shostakovich 15 has escaped,
found fulfilment and enlightenment and
spawned children each absorbed in its
own sound. The third Invocation establishes
a Nutcracker-like magic in chaste
whispered reiteration. A moaning cyclic
whispering from the quartet ushers us
towards a perfectly calculated silence.
La Belle Musique No. 4 comprises
a big single movement with the incantatory
suggestion of Rachmaninov’s Fourth Concerto
returning at 3.10. The four pianos imply
a Lisztian indulgence rather like the
multi-composer Hexameron variations
but the material is more slender and
spare.
These tapes come from
various sources but all are clear and
very listenable. The performances either
involve the composer or certainly have
his blessing. The set is well documented
allowing for a philosophy overload.
If you like the sound of sensuous minimalism
with trance-inducing overtones don’t
hesitate for a moment. The presence
of Martha Argerich will bring in many
purchasers who might otherwise have
passed by on the other side of the street.
After the experience of this intriguing
music I for one would very much like
to reassess Argerich’s and Rabinovitch-Barakovsky’s
Messiaen and Rachmaninov although I
suspect those CDs - especially the Messiaen
- have disappeared into deletion oblivion.
Rob Barnett
RABINOVITCH-BARAKOVSKY ON MEGADISC
MDC7831: Incantations; Schwanengesang
an Apollo; La Belle Musique No. 3
MDC7822 Perpetuum Mobile; Recit de Voyage;
Die Zeit
DRC3033 La Triade; Das tibetanische
Gebet
No Number: Introduction To Alexandre
Rabinovitch. Requiem Pour Une Maree
Noire; Metif Optimiste Suivi De Sa Demystification;
Discours Sur La Delivrance - Mark Drobinsky
Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra/composer
(Six Etats); Martha Argerich/composer
(two amplified pianos) (Musique Populaire);
Yayoi Toda (violin), Orchestra di Padova e del
Veneto/composer (Triade); Filarmonica
Quartet/composer (celesta) (Invocations);
Mikhail Adamovitch, Alexéi Ieriomine,
Anatol Batagov, composer (amplified pianos)
(La Belle Musique No. 4).