|
Piano transcriptions are the favourite “hits” in pianists’ repertoires: Beethoven-Liszt, Schubert-Liszt, Bach-Busoni, Chopin-Godowsky, Wagner-Gould – to name but a few. Producer of Brilliant Classics Pieter van Winkel’s idea was the transformation of Rachmaninoff’s Second Symphony into a piano concerto.
When the Second Symphony was written, Rachmaninoff was already renowned as a pianist and as a composer. After a disastrous performance of the First Symphony, he abandoned the symphony genre for twelve years, and only in 1906-07 did he compose the Second Symphony in E Minor. The work is dedicated to Sergei Ivanovich Taneyev, Rachmaninoff’s teacher. One anonymous critic for the Russian Musical Gazette wrote of the premiere of the work in 1908: “S. Rachmaninoff conducted his new symphony with the mastery and self-control of a true artist Kappellmeister. And it was a celebration for all who love Russian music. The symphony is powerful as an integral work and luxuriant in the abundance of its details. Emotion and inspiration is answered by erudite artistic finish of expression. The first and overall impression is that with its poetic mood and artistic dazzle it grasps your attention from start to finish…”
The pianist Alexander Varenberg transformed the symphony into a concerto with the permission of the composer’s grandson Alexander Rachmaninoff. He orchestrated the work afresh and compressed the four movements of the symphony into three, the traditional form for the concerto genre. According to Varenberg, “all of the new innovations will be visible only to professional musicians. I took considerable care so that Rachmaninoff’s style would not suffer. Every note of mine was his note!” Rachmaninoff’s piano concerto No 5 was first performed by Denis Matsuev on 21 November 2008 at the Salle Pleyel in Paris. On 2 February 2009, he also performed in the Russian premiere of the work at the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire.
Yekaterina Yusupova
|
|
Work on the piano parts in the Piano Concerto and in Les Noces roused the composer’s instrument in this instrument. And his highly successful appearances as a soloist in his own concerto, performed over forty times in Europe and America, also increased Stravinsky’s taste for piano performance. In spending many hours at the piano, he played Czerny’s etudes with the greatest pleasure, perfecting his pianism. Invitations to perform continued to come, and the composer decided to write a new concert work – yet again on the basis of his performing skills.
The name “Capriccio” was given by Stravinsky as it best matched the capricious, unpredictable character of the music in the piece with its succession of episodes that vary in their mood. As in his other neoclassical works, the composer refers to the music of predecessors he admired. The melodic sophistication and the rhythmical refinement of the Capriccio link it with the ballet Le Baiser de la fée, which had been completed shortly before that, based on works by Tchaikovsky. But Stravinsky stated that the principal sources of his inspiration were Weber and Mendelssohn – “the kings of music” whose intonations and techniques are unexpectedly blended with elements of jazz.
Nadezhda Kulygina
|
