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Genuflectimus non ad principem sed ad Principem Pacis!
Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)
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After three months on the couch of Dr. Nikolai Dahl in 1900, Rachmaninov began his years of writing masterpieces. His Suite #2 for Two Pianos started the string of hits, but his next work was to become the world’s most beloved piano concerto. He was only 28. Dr. Dahl had given Sergei a post-hypnotic suggestion that he would write a great piano concerto, and he did.
I’ve found two different recordings of the concerto, one by the composer and one recent one. The first is the 1929 recording of Rachmaninov with the Philadelphia Orchestra under the baton of Leopold Stokowski. I hesitate to use old recordings like this, but RCA re-mastered the original disks in 1973 for the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Sergei’s birth, and the sound quality is decent. The timings below are for the 1929 recording. To hear a more distinct, modern sound, I have another video, a film of a recording session in Russia, which is very much worth a listen. You can actually see what is going on.
The first movement begins with the piano alone, laying down a chordal introduction. The old format of an orchestral exposition followed by a piano and orchestra repeat of the exposition had been killed decisively by Tchaikovsky, so Sergei was able to lay down a compact but tune-filled first movement. The strings take the first subject with the piano providing accompaniment. At 2:06, the second subject appears in E-flat. At 4:04 he begins the development without ceremony, a development based entirely on the first subject, something that Sergei was to do also with his Cello Sonata and Second Symphony. At 6:06 the recapitulation is handled by the strings with the piano singing around it. At 7:33 the second subject returns, not in the expected key of C Major, but in A-flat Major, and the horn barely quotes the first few bars before Rachmaninov takes off in a summary and coda based on the first subject.
The second movement at 9:44 will sound familiar to those who remember Eric Carmen’s “All by Myself”. Rachmaninov uses the technique of tonal misdirection by starting the movement in C minor before carefully directing the listener to E Major. The theme is stated by the flute in a wondrous duet; the clarinet then takes up the theme. The piano takes over, with the strings taking the piano’s former role. The strings take the theme briefly before the piano starts off on the middle section at 13:13 in C# minor. The cadenza at 16:17 is one of the most difficult things I have ever played. Sergei uses it to bring everything to a climax, upon which he slows the action down to bring back the first theme. When the muted strings come in to take up the former flute and clarinet part at 18:07, the handkerchiefs come out. At 19:16 he writes one of his greatest codas, finishing it in a calm, serene E Major.
Tonal misdirection starts the finale at 20:25 in E Major, then carefully guides the listener to C minor for the first subject of this rondo movement. For the GI Generation, the theme that begins at 22:18 is known as Frank Sinatra’s “Full Moon and Empty Arms”. Completing this theme, he works his way back to the first subject via a tense connecting passage. The first subject is set up as a fugue before introducing the second subject again. At 28:02 he sets up another tense connecting passage based on the first subject. This ends with one of his best piano passages leading into the great and glorious return of the second subject in C Major. And what a wrap-up! It leads to one of his “standing ovation” endings.
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto #2 in C minor, Op. 18 (Rachmaninov on piano)
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto #2 in C minor, Op. 18 (Nelson Freire on piano)
Beautiful verse to our Star Spangled Banner....thanks, Mac!!