Sergei RACHMANINOFF (1873-1943)
Complete Piano Music
rec. 1985-2016
BRILLIANT CLASSICS 96185 [8 CDs: 552:25]
This eight-CD box of goodies is a most generous one at around £22.50. Indeed, Brilliant have done Rachmaninoff proud over time, having issued his complete oeuvre some ten years ago. Then again, anything claiming to be ‘complete’ has to be considered with a degree of scepticism; Howard Shelley’s superb set for Hyperion is nothing like complete, for example, and neither is Ashkenazy’s box for Decca. This Brilliant collection gets closer; the last two discs contain works for piano duet, though far from all of them; despite the booklet – a strangely inadequate document - waxing lyrical about the arrangements for piano duet of The Rock, the First Symphony and the Caprice bohemian (which should of course read ‘Caprice bohémien’), none of those appears in this ‘complete’ set.
But it seems almost churlish to carp at those shortcomings; this issue is full of wonderful things, as well as some you would struggle to find anywhere else. Then again, many of the recordings have appeared elsewhere previously, either on Brilliant or Piano Classics, a member of the Brilliant ‘stable’. Of course, having seven different solo pianists plus a piano duet, all recorded in different acoustics on different instruments, has its drawbacks; but on balance, I feel it adds to the interest of the whole box, even if some of the performances are not up to the very high standard set by the best.
CD1 contains the two sets of the Études-Tableaux, powerfully evocative pieces, though we have little reliable information about what visual images the composers had in mind – in fact, he explicitly wished his listeners to form their own impressions. They are played by the Moscovian pianist Zlata Chochieva, who, from the beginning of the first Étude-tableau with its crisp martial rhythms, shows herself to be a mistress of characterisation. The most striking example of this is the moody third piece, which she builds inexorably from its listless opening through to the gentle consolation of its ending. She has the priceless gift of timing, hurrying nothing, never aiming for pure sensationalism. She knows and understands this music inside-out, upside-down and every other way.
Op33 was composed in 1911 at Ivanovka, the family estate. The op. 39 set followed five or six years later, as Rachmaninoff came to the greatest crisis in his career – the decision to leave Russia as the Revolution became a reality; he never returned. Some of that foreboding can be felt in the nervous, almost furtive harmonies of op. 39 no.1. As in op. 33, Chochieva is superb at capturing every nuance of expression in these haunting pieces.
No. 6 in A minor on track 14 is said to be a re-telling of the Little Red Riding Hood tale, or so Rachmaninoff told Ottorino Respighi, who was preparing to orchestrate this number and others. Well; it does have a dramatic contrast between a growling figure down in the bass (Wolf) and tremulous tinklings in the upper register (Red Riding Hood), so….maybe! Yea or nay, the performances on this disc are among the most outstanding in the whole set.
The recorded piano sound on CD1 is excellent; that on CD2, where Lukas Geniušas plays the complete Preludes, is arguably even better. Although the printed details tell us where the recordings were made, we have no information about the pianos used (except for CD6) which would have been useful and interesting. Geniušas, also Moscow born, though into a Lithuanian family of distinguished musicians, begins with the famous C# minor Prelude op. 3 no. 2, which is destined to appear three times in all in the set – once here, then on CD5 as one of the Morceaux de Fantaisie, and finally, appropriately as the very last track of CD8, in the version for piano duet.
When we get to the first mature set of Preludes, op. 23 of 1901-3, we can appreciate Geniušas’s muscular playing, well demonstrated in the famous ‘military march’ of no. 5 in G minor. But he is equally well able to deliver sensitive and poetic performances, such as that of no. 4 in D, perhaps the loveliest of all these Preludes. In the later set, op. 32 of 1910, those same qualities shine through in so many memorable aspects: the glittering finger-work of no. 1 in C; the soaring melody and fluttering arabesques of no. 5 in G; and one of the most haunting, no. 10 in B minor, with its passionate yet hesitant phrases and titanic climaxes. These are deeply felt and fully accomplished readings, fit to rank with finest on disc, those from, let’s say, Ashkenazy or indeed Santiago Rodriguez, who himself appears elsewhere in this set.
The high standard set by these first two discs is maintained in CD3, Zlata Chochieva once more taking the piano stool, this time for the Chopin Variations of 1902 and the Piano Sonata no.1 of 1908. The Variations were written around the same time as the first book of Preludes, and take as their theme the Prelude no. 20 in C minor by Chopin. It’s easy to imagine how deeply this great piece – all thirteen bars of it! – must have impressed the young Rachmaninoff, with its restrained yet powerful emotion and its wonderful harmonic sequences. As in her Études-Tableaux recording, Chochieva is wonderfully expressive in these twenty-two variants, allowing the music to develop thoughtfully, yet always responsive to moments of special emotional intensity. She always makes such a beautiful sound on the piano, and made me feel that this is a much better work than I had previously thought! The only disappointment is the wildly extrovert finale, which to me subverts the essential character of the Chopin original.
Chochieva may possibly have drawn a shorter straw for the remaining item on this disc, the Piano Sonata no. 1. Though written in Dresden around the same time as the magnificent Symphony no.2, the sonata has never really settled in pianists’ repertoire, unlike its successor no.2. It is Rachmaninoff’s most obviously Lisztian work, even to the extent of originally being planned as a ‘Faust Sonata’ along the lines of Liszt’s Faust Symphony. The outer movements are especially problematic; long, sprawling structures which struggle to create convincing wholes. Yet when it is played like this, with such utter commitment and passion, one is forced to listen with new ears. My reservations remained, but Chochieva convinced me that there is much here of value and beauty. And the central slow movement is full of typically sustained lyricism, well worth hearing even if the outer movements are tough going for some listeners.
The Ukrainian Alexander Gavrylyuk is one of the best-known pianists in this set, although the op. 16 Moments Musicaux at the start of disc 4 are his only appearances in it. These date from 1896, yet despite their unassuming title are fine examples of Rachmaninoff’s growing mastery, and of the personal voice that we know so well. These are six powerful numbers, four in the minor and two in the major, with some subtle thematic references weaving their way amongst them. Gavrylyuk gives finely controlled yet intense performances of great maturity; no. 2 in B minor, with its rippling semiquavers and fretful chromatic melodic lines, is especially memorable.
The next two works, Piano Sonata no.2 and the Corelli Variations, come from the Cuban-American pianist Santiago Rodriguez. He is one of the oldest pianists on these discs, but is a musician of fine pedigree, especially reputed for his Rachmaninoff recordings. As you can see, the performances here have been around for nigh on 30 years, but the sound is of good quality, and they hold their own without difficulty.
The Second Sonata was originally from 1913, but was revised by the composer and considerably shortened in 1931. It is, for me, certainly a more convincing whole than its predecessor; it begins with that thrilling opening plunge from the top of the keyboard to the low B flat, and the central climax, with its excited bell sounds – always such an important element in Rachmaninoff’s music - is a moment of huge impact. The Lento middle movement is calm and thoughtful, though with a more hectic middle section, while the finale, once the quick music sweeps away the hesitant opening, is dazzling, and goes like the wind in Santiago’s hands, as it must.
The Corelli Variations, written for American concerts to be given in 1931, was a piece that caused Rachmaninoff enormous problems. Mainly because he felt that audiences were bored by the twenty variations, and if they started to cough, he would decide on the spot to leave lots of them out, as he confessed to his friend the composer Medtner - on one occasion, he omitted no less than half of them! You can confidently put this down to creative paranoia, which goes all the way back to the traumatic failure of the First Symphony. In fact, this is an entertaining and successful set, based on the 17th century theme known as ‘La Folia’ (though not by Corelli at all as it happens). In some senses, these variations prefigure the Paganini Rhapsody, both works being built upon themes of almost skeletal simplicity. Rodriguez is masterly here, as in the sonata, pacing the work superbly through all its multiplicity of changing textures and moods.
To complete this disc, the German-born pianist Nils Franke – based in England for many years now – brings a selection of tiny Rachmaninoff pieces, mostly early, which have rather patronisingly been described as ‘crumbs from Rachmaninoff’s table’. Crumbs they may be, but when played as sensitively as this by a pianist well-known for his erudition, they add, along with tracks 20-23 on CD 5, something very special to this boxed set, particularly as very few of them have been recorded previously.
The five Morceaux de Fantaisie, op.3, which begin the aforementioned CD5 are early pieces, composed separately, then published as a group in 1893. The best-known is without a doubt the C# minor Prelude, making its second appearance in this set. But they are all fine pieces; the opening Élégie is an uneasy slow movement in E flat minor. No.3 in E is perhaps the least interesting of the group; but it is followed by the stunning Polichinelle, an evocation of the Commedia dell’arte character Pulcinella. The Russian Alexander Ghindin is the brilliant pianist, who, as with the other movements, characterises the final waltz-serenade superbly.
Now the fun begins! Ghindin’s next fourteen tracks contain the most straightforwardly enjoyable items in the box – Rachmaninoff’s brilliant transcriptions of other composers’ music (plus some of his own), which he often used as ‘encores’ in his piano recitals. Ghindin refuses to play these other than with true respect and musicality. Some of them are very famous, such as Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream scherzo, which he despatches with scintillating delicacy, and The Flight of the Bumble-bee (1 minute nine seconds! Is this a record?). But I was enchanted by some I hadn’t come across before, such as Schubert’s Wohin?- so much more than a mere arrangement – a translation (as Bottom’s friends might say)!
Nils Franke returns for the final four tracks with more rare miniatures, including a rather fine Prelude in D minor of 1917, and concluding with a rousing Star-Spangled Banner. The booklet says nothing at all about any of Franke’s tracks, and I have been unable to discover any further information. Suffice it to say that, knowing Franke’s work in major institutions, such as Reading University and the Trinity Laban Conservatoire, I suspect he has had a major hand in resurrecting and editing many of these pieces.
Still three more CDs to go, so I shall deal briefly with those – and it’s fair to say that at this point the most noteworthy performances in the set are now behind us. The Italian pianist Elisa Tomellini provides all the tracks on CD6, and, although of course she performs well, her playing is, for me, disappointing as compared to the other pianists; she does not have that indefinable feel for the ebb and flow of Rachmaninoff’s emotions and textures, nor is she helped by the dry studio acoustic, plus a Steinway piano with a rather brittle top register (though that may also be partly because of the acoustic).
Tomellini plays early pieces all from 1886-1894, in four published groups plus a little Song Without Words. Perhaps the most interesting thing here is the way these tracks illustrate the influences that were most important to the young Rachmaninoff; Chopin of course, especially in the Nocturnes and Morceaux de Salon found on tracks 10-12 and of course Tchaikovsky in such pieces as the Romance, track 20. But then more surprisingly, we can perceive Mendelssohn in the attractive Mélodie from the Four Pieces, tracks 6-9. There are some gems too – the elegant, fickle Valse on track 16, and the moody Barcarolle that follows it. (Interesting, by the way, that Rachmaninoff follows other composers in making his Barcarolles rather dark, mournful pieces.)
The final two CDs are devoted to the piano duet music, plus one or two rarities for six hands, one piano; warning - only to be attempted with people you know very well! The duets are played by Ingryd Thorson and Julian Thurber, two Danes who met and began playing together when students at the RAM in London. Their total empathy shines through, even if their enthusiasm does carry them away sometimes. Disc 8 is a most rewarding finale to the set, with a fine performance of the Suite no. 2, which is a fine example of early Rachmaninoff, full of adumbrations of his future unmistakable persona.
I had never before heard the piano duet version of the great Symphonic Dances – effectively, Rachmaninoff’s fourth symphony. I still prefer it in its orchestral garb, but there’s no doubt that, when played like this, it is a convincing musical statement of great power. This is the Danish duo at their best, tackling a work that presents musical challenges of the highest order as well as considerable technical ones. And they rise to them heroically.
This is a wonderful and highly valuable set. Yes, the presentation, especially in terms of the rather unreliable booklet, is less than perfect. But that is a small price to pay for this very comprehensive collection of Rachmaninoff’s music for the instrument he loved so much, and for which he was one of the four or five greatest composers in the history of Western music.
As a footnote, I prefer ‘Rachmaninov’, but have stuck to the spelling used by the publication under discussion.
Gwyn Parry-Jones
Contents
CD1
Études- Tableaux, op. 33 [24:34]
Études-Tableaux, op. 39 [36:45]
Zlata Chochieva (piano)
Rec. 2015, Netherlands
CD2
Prelude, op.3 no.2 in C sharp minor [4:09]
Preludes, op. 23 [32:08]
Preludes, op. 32 [39:35]
Lukas Geniušas (piano)
Rec. Moscow, 2013
CD3
Variations on a Theme of Chopin, op. 22 [27:54]
Piano Sonata no. 1 in D minor, op. 28 [34:27]
Zlata Chochieva (piano)
Rec. Rome, 2012
CD4
Moments Musicaux, op. 16 [27:37]
Alexander Gavrylyuk (piano)
Rec. Schiedam, Netherlands, 2011
Piano Sonata no. 2 in B flat minor, op. 36 (revised version, 1931) [21:37]
Variations on a Theme of Corelli, op. 42 [32:29]
Santiago Rodriguez (piano)
Rec. Fort Washington,USA, 1993 (Sonata), 1994 (Variations)
Four Improvisations on Themes of Arensky, Glazunov, Taneyev and
Rachmaninoff (c.1896-97) [3:22]
Morceau de fantaisie in G minor (Delmo) (January 1899) [1:00]
Fughetta in F (February 1899) [2:27]
Nils Franke (piano)
Rec. Champs Hill, England, 2008
CD5
Morceaux de Fantaisie, op.3 [19:39]
Transcriptions:
J.S. Bach, Partita in E [9:12]
F. Schubert, ‘Wohin?’ [2:33]
F. Mendelssohn, Scherzo from ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ [4:29]
Rachmaninoff, ‘The Lilacs’ [2:32]
‘The Daisies’[2:44]
P.Tchaikovsky, Lullaby [5:03]
M.Mussorgsky, ‘Hopak’ from ‘The Sorotchinsky Fair’ [2:05]
N.Rimsky-Korsakov, ‘The Flight of the Bumble-bee’ from ‘The Tale of the Tsar Sultan’ [1:09]
F.Kreisler ‘Liebesleid’ [4:29]
‘Liebesfreud’ [6:39]
Polka V.R. [4:10]
Alexander Ghindin (piano)
Rec. Moscow 1995
Oriental Sketch in B flat (1917) [1:57]
Piece (Prelude) in D minor (November 1917) [2:37]
Fragments in A flat (November 197) [2:02]
The Star-Spangled Banner in B flat (1918) [1:28]
Nils Franke (piano)
Rec. Champs Hill, England, 2008
CD6
Suite in D minor (1890/91) [18:25]
Song Without Words (1886/7) [1:27]
Four Pieces (1887-1891) [11:52]
Nocturnes (1887/88) [16:30]
Morceaux de Salon, op. 10 (1893/4)
Elisa Tomellini (piano)
Rec. Brescia, Italy 2016
CD7
Fantaisie-tableaux (Suite no.1) for two pianos, op.5 [22:33]
Russian Rhapsody [8:50]
Six Morceaux for piano duet, op.11 [23:34]
Two Pieces for piano, six hands [4:53]
Polka Italienne for piano duet [1:56]
Ingryd Thorson and Julian Thurber (piano duet), with David Gardiner (piano) in Two Pieces for six hands.
Rec. Denmark 1985
CD8
Suite no. 2 for two pianos, op. 17 [23:56]
Symphonic Dances for two pianos, op. 45 [32:16]
Romance in G for piano duet [1:44]
Prelude in C sharp minor, for two pianos [4:21]
Ingryd Thorson and Julian Thurber (piano duet)
Rec Denmark, 1985
