Rachmaninoff - Symphonic Dances, Op.45, I. Non allegro - James Allen Gähres, cond., Ulm Philharmonic скачать в хорошем качестве

Rachmaninoff - Symphonic Dances, Op.45, I. Non allegro - James Allen Gähres, cond., Ulm Philharmonic

Ulm Philharmonic Dieter Kraus, alto saxophone James Allen Gähres, conductor Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873–1943) Symphonic Dances, Op. 45 First movement: Non allegro – Lento – Tempo I (C minor – C major) Live recorded during open public concert. Ulm, Germany. Cover: Rachmaninoff in a portrait photograph by Arnold Genthe (German-American photographer, 1869–1942), December 1918. ©Genthe photograph collection, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., United States. Photos: – Rachmaninoff and Philadelphia Orchestra's conductor Eugene Ormandy confer during a rehearsal, 1940. Photographer Adrian Siegel. ©Photo courtesy Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation, Villa Senar, Weggis, Switzerland. – Rachmaninoff in his study at Villa Senar, c.1937. ©vide supra – Rachmaninoff and Ormandy in rehearsal with Philadelphia Orchestra, 1939, Academy of Music, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. ©Photo courtesy Adrian Siegel Collection/Philadelphia Orchestra Archives. Score: Autograph Musical quotation signed by Sergei Rachmaninoff, dated 1941. Throughout his life, Sergei Rachmaninoff was plagued by the Dies irae ("Day of Wrath") motif from the Latin Requiem Mass. Though this motif has been used by other composers throughout the centuries (like Berlioz in La Symphonie fantastique and Saint-Saëns in the Danse macabre), Rachmaninoff's obsession with it is just short of being notorious. Even in the Symphonic Dances Op. 45, his very last major composition, Rachmaninoff was still unable to shake off the sinister Dies irae that has used to legendary effect in many of his major works, most notably in the Variations on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43. Together with the Third Symphony Op. 44, these three last works symbolize the composer's late style: less of the gushing idealistic romance that practically rolls across the plains in his Second Piano Concerto, replaced by a more concise, percussive spareness. More mature maybe, yet Rachmaninoff retains that innate melancholic sound which practically identifies him. He finished his last and, some argue, his best work in 1940, spending the rest of the three remaining years of his life concertizing and revising earlier works. The Symphonic Dances, dedicated to Eugene Ormandy and The Philadelphia Orchestra (proclaimed Rachmaninoff's favorite orchestra), were concurrently written in a version for two pianos. Though Rachmaninoff had never outrightly stated the inner meaning of this work, it has been said that the Dies irae in Rachmaninoff's final work embodies the spiritual fight and struggle of the composer. Medtner had written in 1933 that "...[Rachmaninoff's] own music's chief themes are the themes of his life..."). Some theories say it symbolizes Death itself. Yet, at last he invokes the Doxology from the Russian Orthodox chant "Blagosloven esi, Gospodi" (Blessed be the Lord), earlier employed in his 1915 setting of the All-Night Vigil. On the score was written "Alliluya" under the notes of this hymn of praise, transcribed here with a festive zest and exuberance. Rachmaninoff further inscribed "I thank Thee, Lord" at the very end of the manuscript. The orchestral version was premiered by Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra on January 3, 1941. This version is, expectedly, much more colorful and dramatically effective than the two-piano version; it even incorporates a piano part to enrich the tone. Yet, while it gains in warmth and richness of color, it is more robust and crowded, with less of the solitude and icy loneliness that the piano(s) can put across. There is no doubt here that Rachmaninoff's orchestration is fantastically meticulous yet effective. The first movement leaps to life with a vibrant three-note motif played through the orchestra, from woodwinds to strings to brass, repeating, descending, ascending, climaxing in a proclamation of the theme in the strings, accompanied by tambourine. The slow, meditative middle section unfolds with a pulsating rhythm and a yearning alto saxophone solo in the middle, joined later by beseeching strings, exuding the intensity of a Shakespearean tragedy. (In the piano version, this solo evokes a different mood – more like a nymph sighing in a pristine forest, trailing her delicate fingers across the surface of a crystalline lake, letting the noonday sun glimmer off the ripples.) After a return to the main material, the central theme is recalled briefly as the movement draws to a quiet close, which includes a modified quote from principal theme of Symphony No. 1, Op. 13 (thought to be lost at the time).