RACHMANINOV Piano Concerto No

RACHMANINOV Piano Concerto No. 2 Études-tableaux, Op. 33 Boris Giltburg, Piano Royal Scottish National Orchestra Carlos Miguel Prieto Sergey Rachmaninov (1873–1943): Piano Concerto No. 2 • Études-tableaux, Op. 33 clarinets and hardly the soft violin pizzicatos, as those are been removed, until nothing but a clear and concise Fritz Kreisler (1875–1962): Liebesleid · Franz Behr (1837–1898): Lachtäubchen, ‘Polka de W.R.’ too delicate to carry a long distance. Finally, the clarinets musical idea remains. often can’t hear the pianist clearly, as most of the piano’s Those miniatures were written between August and To play the opening of Rachmaninov’s Second Piano movement (finally the piano gets to play a melody too!) sound also projects into the hall. The resulting danger of September 1911, exactly one year after Rachmaninov Concerto is a singularly powerful experience. You wait for and the slightly exotic second theme of the finale, which this acoustic triangle is that the clarinets and the piano composed the 13 Préludes, Op. 32, thus completing his silence – the piano starts on its own, there’s no need to returns in triumphant splendour at the very end of the may drift apart. It’s a problem which can be solved, but cycle of 24 preludes. Both opuses were composed at maintain eye contact with anyone – and when the hall movement as the ‘point’ of the entire concerto, with a one which we almost always encounter during the first Ivanovka, a country estate some 450 km south-east of seems to have disappeared, you let the first chord sound, huge sound produced by all, a drenched pianist, and the rehearsal. Moscow, which was Rachmaninov’s summer residence as quietly and distantly as possible, and be answered by roof in danger of falling down. It’s perhaps all too easy for us to relate the path which for nearly 30 years, between 1890 and 1917. a low F, like the clapper of a giant bell beginning to ring. Speaking of the second movement, it is a world of its the concerto follows – from the passion, darkness and Rachmaninov found the quieter, less hectic country Seven more chords follow, each louder than the previous own, protected both from the undercurrent of deep sorrow pain of the first movement, through the dreamy idyll of the atmosphere very productive, and established a general one – there’s a growing sense of tension, even of dread at which runs through the first movement and from the second, and to the unequivocal victory at the end – with pattern of intense composing periods in Ivanovka during the implacable approach of that sombre tolling. As the extroversion and dazzling virtuosity of the finale – though Rachmaninov’s own life story: his depression and inability the summer (even if in his letters he often berates his crescendo reaches its highest point, four heavy notes there’s a taste of the latter at the end of the middle to compose following the disastrous premiere of his First perceived lack of productivity) and concert performances dissolve into roiling arpeggios, and the way is paved for section, just before the main theme returns. The gradual Symphony (ruined by an apparently drunken Glazunov on during the rest of the year. the entrance of the main theme. brightening of the chords at the very beginning seems to the conductor’s podium) and his fight to overcome it with It is sometimes commented that in the Études- That Theme… Sitting at the piano, within reach of the clear the afterimage of the darker first movement; they the help of a hypnotherapist, one Dr Dahl, to whom this tableaux Rachmaninov discovered new means of first violins, the entrance of the orchestra is literally lead to unhurriedly flowing triplets on the piano, followed concerto was dedicated. But then again, towards the end expression, and that they show a compositional breathtaking. It’s a physical, visceral sensation: some 40 by a floating melody played first by the flute, then by the of his life, Rachmaninov said in an interview that when complexity going far beyond that of the Préludes. I would string instruments in unison playing one of the most clarinet: for me it’s the gentleness and warmth of early composing, he was only trying to make the music express like to propose a counter-argument: it seems to me that passionate, full-blooded, emotionally charged melodies sunbeams on the dew-covered grass before a summer’s simply and directly what was in his heart – so perhaps there’s not much to distinguish the last set of the Préludes ever written (not hyperbole!). The piano part, mostly day. The middle section introduces some emotional and there is truth to such a reading. Whatever the case, the (Op. 32) and the first set of the Études-tableaux (Op. 33) written in the middle and lower register, has very little technical turbulence, but things calm down and the piano music is among the strongest works Rachmaninov ever musically and stylistically, and the names could easily be chance of cutting through and becomes just one texture triplets appear again, though hushed and subdued this composed, and I can’t help being tremendously thrilled swapped between one set and the other. within the enveloping orchestral sound. But that doesn’t time, like a frozen landscape. To thaw it, it is the strings before every performance, waiting to find myself in that Some similarities are immediately noticeable, as matter at all: the music sweeps you up and – absorbed who reprise the main theme. Rachmaninov knew so well silence, about to play the opening chord. there are two corresponding pairs between the sets: the within its harmonies, climbing with the long line to the first what he was doing – I can’t think of a surer way to make Prélude No. 4 in E major, Op. 32 and the Étude-tableau climax of the piece, the first ‘point’, as Rachmaninov the heart overflow than this reprise, combining the sweet *** No. 7 in E flat major, Op. 33, both festive depictions of a called those climaxes – you feel like part of something sensation of homecoming with the lush, warm sound of fair that share a distinct Russian character; and the much bigger. It’s exhilarating, almost awe-inspiring, and it the violins. Finally, there’s a coda, which is pure fairy-tale ‘There are numerous places in my concertos and Prélude No. 6 in F minor, Op. 32 and the Étude-tableau takes all your concentration not to become overwhelmed. music: the heroes of the story slowly recede into the symphonies that were written in a single breath, while No. 6 in E flat minor, Op. 33, both stormy, brooding And these are just the first three minutes, less than distance of their ‘happily ever after’. each of my short pieces always required meticulous care virtuoso pieces, written mostly in hushed tones, like 10 per cent of the concerto. Climaxes abound throughout, A small aside: within that beautiful movement lurks and hard work.’ This quotation from Rachmaninov seems controlled whirlwinds of sound which sometimes explode with the piano sometimes fighting for its life against the one of the trickiest ensemble places of all Rachmaninov to me to describe well the contrast between the Second to destructive effect. combined forces of the orchestra. The emotional intensity piano concertos – at 2:02, when the piano plays the Piano Concerto and the Études-tableaux, Op. 33. The There are also strong textural connections between dial is almost constantly at maximum – though original theme, and the orchestra accompanies. The writing in the concerto is lovingly generous: long-breathed the G sharp minor Prélude No 12, Op. 32 and the C major Rachmaninov’s emotions are always genuine and accompanying triplets are here played by violins in lines and broad landscapes painted with large Étude-tableau No. 2, Op. 33, while the D minor Étude- sincere, and the fast sections contain more than enough pizzicato and the two clarinets, and the challenge is one brushstrokes; pure, fervent emotions; rich piano writing tableau No. 5, Op. 33 has a counterpart to its dark fairy- muscle to allow for a lean and taut interpretation. of acoustics: sitting at the piano you hear the violins very and even richer orchestration. The Études-tableaux, Op. tale character in an even earlier work, the D minor Juxtaposed with these heights are numerous beautiful well, but can hardly hear the clarinets, as their sound 33, on the other hand, are perhaps the most chiselled, Prélude No. 3, Op. 23. moments of respite, most strikingly in the second projects into the hall, going, as it were, over your head. economically written cycle to come out of Rachmaninov’s But beyond these direct links, the two sets are movement, but also the lyrical second theme of the first Sitting in the audience, though, one will easily hear the pen. Like good short stories, everything superfluous has connected through a similar approach to composition, both in the technical aspect of piano writing (leaner, more the manuscripts; compiling a list of his compositions in I wanted, however, to finish the recording on a softer note. – I find it a wonderful fusion of Viennese charm and transparent textures), and in the way the musical ideas 1917 he noted alongside Op. 33: ‘the deleted ones are in Rachmaninov, far from Stravinsky’s description of a ‘six- Rachmaninov’s sense of humour, perhaps softer and seem to lie closer to the surface, more immediate and my desk drawer, they will not be published’. foot scowl’, possessed a wonderful and gentle sense of gentler here than in the Polka, but always present in the gripping – and there’s a definite move away from the I wish I could present a resolution to this mystery, but humour, as is evident from his personal letters and from unusual harmonies (the very opening contains a chain of purer Romanticism of previous works to something which the truth is that we just don’t know, as Rachmaninov the reminiscences of those who knew him.

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