Rachmaninov Symphony No. 2 Conducted by Leopold Stokowski with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and Robert Russell Bennett Violin Concerto Bernard Herrmann conducting the London Symphony Orchestra, Louis Kaufman, violin RACHMANINOV ible music. And when it was done, the host of home that much. That all changed in 1918. With SYMPHONY NO. 2 whatever program it was came on and informed the war on and Russia in turmoil, Rachmaninov us listeners that we’d just heard Rachmaninov’s accepted a series of concerts in Scandinavia. Quick – what do Eric Carmen’s hit song “Never second symphony, conducted by Adrian Boult There he stayed until the tour was finished, and Gonna Fall in Love Again,” Don Sebeskey’s on London Records. I knew Mr. Boult’s work then he boarded a boat for the United States “You Can’t Go Home Again,” Barry Manilow’s because the second piece of music I bought and arrived in New York City eleven days later. “If I Should Love Again,” Danilo Perez’s “If I on LP after “The Moldau” was Fantasia on He became an in-demand conductor and per- Ever Forget You,” and the film Birdman all have Greensleeves by Vaughan Williams, conducted former, and also signed a deal to record for the in common? Yes, the all “borrow” from Rach- by Boult. Well, I immediately drove directly to Victor Talking Machine Company. Audiences maninov’s brilliant Symphony No. 2. While Vogue Records in Westwood. They had a won- loved him, but critics were divided on the worth Birdman used parts of the first and second derful classical department there and I asked of his music. Happily, time has proven them movement, it’s the third movement’s theme that the man working there for the Boult version of wrong, as is so often the case. inspired everyone else – and indeed, it is one Rachmaninov’s second symphony on London of the most achingly beautiful themes in all of Records. Thankfully they had it and it was pretty In 1941, Rachmaninov was asked to com- classical music. inexpensive at that. I got home and immedi- pose a short concerto for the British film, Dan- ately put it on and played it – as it turned out I’d gerous Moonlight – he declined and the job I often wonder how people discover music. Do missed the first two movements, so discovering went to Richard Addinsell, who did a brilliant they read reviews? Do they take advice from those was wonderful. And then came the third job composing the Rachmininov-like “Warsaw friends? Do they just suddenly “know” all about movement, which is what had just begun when Concerto.” In 1942, he and his wife moved to classical music? Do they learn in school? I I switched to the station in the car. I must have Beverly Hills, California on the advice of his always ask and the answers are always var- listened to that record about ten times in a row doctor. He fell ill during a concert tour and was ied and very different. I came to classical that night. It instantly became my favorite sym- later diagnosed with advanced melanoma. In music thanks to a wonderful music apprecia- phony and that has never changed. I own or February of 1943, he and his wife became tion class I took at Louis Pasteur Junior High have heard, I imagine, just about every version American citizens. Seven weeks later, four School, taught by Mr. Williamson. The first commercially released on LP or CD, and some days before his seventieth birthday, Sergei piece he played us was Bedrich Smetana’s that weren’t commercially released (shhh). It Rachmaninov passed away. “The Moldau,” conducted by Eugene Ormandy. rekindled my love of classical music and I went Mr. Williamson asked us to close our eyes and out and bought all the Rachmaninov I could and Through the years following the premiere, let the music wash over us and paint whatever branched out from there – being obsessive I Rachmaninov made all sorts of edits to the pictures it conjured up in our imaginations. In soon had over five thousand classical LPs. symphony. Complete performances were other words, he told us nothing about what “The almost unheard of until the late 1960s. The Moldau” was. I was hooked on classics from I can’t imagine anyone reading these liner cuts to the complete approximately sixty-min- that moment on. Happily, one of my local re- notes doesn’t know the story about the pre- ute work sometimes reduced it to as little as cord stores, Chesterfield in Beverly Hills, had miere of Rachmaninov’s first symphony, ap- forty minutes, sometimes even shorter. Which very knowledgeable people working there and parently such a disaster at its 1897 premiere, brings us to the performance on this disc – the they’d recommend and suggest things to me and with such savage reviews that it sent legendary Hollywood Bowl concert of Leopold and I learned a lot from them and from taking Rachmaninov into a depression that lasted Stokowski conducting the Rachmaninov sec- chances. I found right away that the music I years. He went into therapy and finally began ond symphony in August of 1946. In what was responded to was mostly of the twentieth cen- to compose again. His first major composition almost unheard of back then, Stokowski per- tury, not the old fellows that everyone went on after that was his second piano concerto (ded- formed it without most of the usual cuts. The and on about – Mozart and Beethoven – just icated to his therapist), which was an instant performance was electrifying. Thankfully, at couldn’t get into that at all. But in all of those success and remains one of the greatest and the time there were transcription discs made of formative years neither they nor anyone else most well-loved and well-known piano concer- the performances for archival purposes. Back ever said the name Rachmaninov to me. tos of all time. Confidence renewed and strong, in the late 1970s, I happened to be in a used he began writing what would become his sec- record store here in Los Angeles and I found a Flash forward to around 1975. At that point ond symphony. He composed throughout 1906 whole slew of reel-to-reel tapes, one of which in time most of my musical interest was in and finished the symphony in 1907, after many contained the Hollywood Bowl concert. While soundtracks. I was driving home from a record revisions. He himself conducted the premiere I knew others had it and that whatever tapes collector friend’s house in Culver City, heading in Saint Petersburg in 1908, where it was met existed would have all come from the transcrip- towards the 405 freeway. I pushed the buttons with much acclaim, the polar opposite of the re- tion disc, the sound, while archival, was cer- on the car radio trying to find something I liked, action to the first symphony. tainly listenable and that performance, despite when suddenly the most glorious music was the archival sound, became one of my all-time issuing forth from the speakers. I listened as I In 1909, Rachmaninov came to America for a favorites. drove but I was so intoxicated by the tune I was concert tour, playing the piano and conduct- hearing that I pulled over and stopped. And for ing. The tour was hugely successful and he In 1993, a CD was issued of the Stokowski per- the next twenty minutes or so I could not move, was asked to do more engagements, which he formance and I bought it. It had worse sound I could not do anything but listen to that incred- turned down, as he didn’t want to be away from than my tape and in those days there wasn’t much that could be done, and so you hear Broadcasting System occupied all my time. Louis Kaufman had this to say about Bennett: every warble, every click and pop and tick – The problem was solved by making the con- “Russell is one of the most gifted musicians very difficult listening. I began to wonder if my certo one of my broadcasts. It is consequently I have ever known. Truly a major talent. We tape could be cleaned up with today’s tech- a piece designed to be pleasant to hear on the first met in 1936 at Universal Studios, when nology. We’d recently released two classic air, or on the concert stage. No losing struggle he had orchestrated the film version of Kern’s soundtracks, Franz Waxman’s A Place in the with modern harmonic experiment is involved, Show Boat and I was the concertmaster at the Sun and Dimitri Tiomkin’s It’s a Wonderful Life. and the solo part, though difficult, is well within session. We have been friends ever since, Even five years ago it would have not been the traditional literature of the virtuoso violinist. and it would be difficult not to be a friend of possible to release them, in such bad shape Written with the frankness of a letter to a friend, this charming, energetic and remarkable man. were the acetates and tapes. But audio resto- it says what it has to say for the pleasure of His ability as a brilliant orchestrator is legend ration whiz, Chris Malone, worked some kind saying it. The form is classic, with nothing left but I hope that this CD release of the Violin of magic and not only helped them but actually out: the sonata-form first movement with the Concerto helps shed light on his equally fine made them sound really good.