Symphonic Dances (Rachmaninoff)

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The Symphonic Dances Op. 45 are Sergej Rachmaninoff's last work, created in 1940 in Huntington on Long Island . Rachmaninov originally wrote the work for orchestra, but almost simultaneously made a version for two pianos, which he performed privately with Vladimir Horowitz , but never in public. The composition consists of three movements:

III. (Non) Allegro, C minor
I.II. Andante con moto (Tempo di valse), G minor
III. Lento assai - Allegro vivace, D minor

The required orchestra is large, in addition to the usual triple wood instrumentation, there is an alto saxophone (one of the few cases of a saxophone in classical music), greatly expanded percussion (3 timpani , tambourine , triangle , small and large drum , cymbal , tam-tam , glockenspiel , 3 bells ), piano and a harp . The work is considered to be challenging to play in orchestral literature. It is the Philadelphia Orchestra and its then chief conductorDedicated to Eugene Ormandy , who also premiered the work on January 3, 1941. It was only during a performance under Dimitri Mitropoulos and the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in November 1942 that Rachmaninoff discovered that a Non Allegro was printed in the score of the first movement instead of Allegro ; the non was crossed out. To this day, Non Allegro is still often used as a sentence indication. The duration of the performance of the movement therefore varies considerably between individual performances. A separate recording, which would have shown Rachmaninoff's point of view, was planned, but was never carried out. In 2018 a recording was released on Marston Records in which Rachmaninoff explains the work to Eugene Ormandy in a version for solo piano. In this explanation on the piano, the tempo at the beginning of the first movement is a minimum of 116 beats below Allegro in the upper moderato area.

The changes in his life are processed in this work, originally called Fantastic Dances , from a program that denotes the sentences noon , sunset and midnight , was reported. At the end of the first movement there is a quote from Rachmaninoff's unsuccessful 1st Symphony , which plunged him into a deep crisis. The second sentence should stand for the years from the turn of the century to the Russian Revolution . The third dance ends with the synthesis of the Dies Irae (symbolic for death) with the alleluia of the Orthodox liturgy (for the resurrection) and so the coda of the work was also titled Alleluia by Rachmaninov . The pious, hopeful hymn of praise triumphs in the last bars of the great master over the melody of the Last Judgment, which runs through his entire work - this is also interpreted as a premonition of imminent death and a simultaneous turn to faith.

Rachmaninoff, who critically reviewed many of his works throughout his life and made changes, deletions and revisions even after going to press, valued the Symphonic Dances so much that he called them his best work; he had previously reserved this title for The Bells .

Others

Excerpts from the first movement are used in the music for the TV program Quarks .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ on the problem of Allegro or non Allegro in the next paragraph
  2. ^ Sherman, John: Music and Maestros: The Story of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra. Minnesota 1952. pp. 253/4
  3. ↑ z. B. in the score by Boosey & Hawkes ; anders ( Allegro ) CPP / Belwin Inc. ( Warner Bros. Publications , ISBN 0-7692-9184-8 ) in the edition for 2 pianos
  4. ^ Harrison, Max. Rachmaninoff: Life, Works, Recordings. London: Continuum International Publishing Group 2006. ISBN 0-8264-9312-2 . P. 330
  5. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00hxjgt  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.bbc.co.uk