Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943)

Started by Chaszz, December 10, 2009, 04:35:52 PM

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mc ukrneal

Quote from: Il Conte Rodolfo on April 12, 2011, 06:42:56 AM
Neal, you keep adding to the amount of beers I intend to offer you should we ever meet face to face.  :D
I guess I should start keeping track then!   ;)
Be kind to your fellow posters!!

madaboutmahler

Can't believe how little appreciation for Rachmaninov there is here on GMG.
Seeing the 'Symphonic Dances' live yesterday evening prompted me to come here and share my enthusiasm for Rachmaninov. :)

Rachmaninov has been one of my absolute favourites ever since I started listening to music. Great works such as the 2nd piano concerto, Paganini variations and 2nd symphony became my favourites back then. Now, however much I love those works still, I really see these three as my absolute favourites and also believe that they are Rachmaninov's three greatest masterpieces: Symphonic Dances, The Isle of the Dead, and the 3rd piano concerto. Such great pieces, full of beautiful melodies, intense passion, amazingly masterful and colourful orchestration and powerful emotional content. These three pieces would all be in my top 30 pieces of all time.

Have to say that seeing the Symphonic Dances live yesterday was absolutely thrilling - the LPO/Gaffigan gave such an excellent performance. So brilliant in fact that I am already trying to persuade my dad to book another concert with the dances as the main piece in which Vasily Petrenko will conduct the Philharmonia! ;)
"Music is ... A higher revelation than all Wisdom & Philosophy"
— Ludwig van Beethoven

Dundonnell

#102
I hate doing this but......

The First Symphony is a marvellous work, so is 'The Bells' :)  I like the glowering menace of 'Isle of the Dead' and 'The Rock'.

The rest....I could not run far enough away from :(

I used to like the Symphonic Dances when I was forty years younger but now...it makes little impression on me. The 2nd Symphony and the Second and Third Piano Concertos? High up on my (imaginery) list
of least favourite works :(

Why? All I can say is that there is something about the romantic, nostalgic, wistfulness of Rachmaninov after he left Russia which just repels me. It is a totally subjective, emotional/aesthetic response which
I cannot overcome. I would not-for one second-attempt to persuade anyone else that they should share my reactions or that they should rate the composer any less highly than they do :)

snyprrr

Quote from: karlhenning on April 01, 2011, 10:52:10 AM
Free to a good home, PM me if interested:

[asin]B00005AQ2T[/asin]




Hm, second image seems not to fly: Symphony 3, Symphonic Dances; Mackerras, Royal Liverpool Phil

[ Both are good recordings; a matter of Space. ]


uh oh,... now Karl's giving away his collection :o :o

Lisztianwagner

#104
What a genius he was, Sergei Rachmaninov is certainly one of my favourite composers of all time :D He is also one of the first I started listening to, as I'm a massive piano lover :)

His music is extremely powerfully evocative and highly beautiful, and shows brilliant rhythmic flexibility and chromatic harmony; when I listen to Rach's pieces, I'm always very touched and impressed by their great beauty and passion, it's like I could perceive the inner feelings Rachmaninov felt when he composed. And as a matter of fact, once he said:"I write on a piece of paper the inner music I feel".

Some of my favourite Rachmaninov's works include Piano Concertos No.2 & 3, Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Symphonic Dances, Isle of the Dead and the Symphonies.
"Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire." - Gustav Mahler

vandermolen

Quote from: Lisztianwagner on October 29, 2011, 07:07:14 AM
What a genius he was, Sergei Rachmaninov is certainly one of my favourite composers of all time :D He is also one of the first I started listening to, as I'm a massive piano lover :)

His music is extremely powerfully evocative and highly beautiful, and shows brilliant rhythmic flexibility and chromatic harmony; when I listen to Rach's pieces, I'm always very touched and impressed by their great beauty and passion, it's like I could perceive the inner feelings Rachmaninov felt when he composed. And as a matter of fact, once he said:"I write on a piece of paper the inner music I feel".

Some of my favourite Rachmaninov's works include Piano Concertos No.2 & 3, Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Symphonic Dances, Isle of the Dead and the Symphonies.

I am fond of the quirky 4th Piano Concerto too - underrated I think.
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

Lisztianwagner

Quote from: vandermolen on December 10, 2011, 12:45:11 PM
I am fond of the quirky 4th Piano Concerto too - underrated I think.

Yes, it's not one of the most famous Rachmaninov's works, but it's certainly a brilliant composition, both for the piano technique and for the great harmony and beautiful orchestration.
"Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire." - Gustav Mahler

Marc

This thread could be merged with this one (?):

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,15381.0.html

Anyway, just listening to Rach's 2nd piano concerto with Zoltán Kocsis and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra conducted by Edo de Waart. It's an 'oldie' from the Philips catalogue, which I like quite a lot.


Antoine Marchand

Quote from: Marc on December 10, 2011, 01:54:35 PM
Anyway, just listening to Rach's 2nd piano concerto with Zoltán Kocsis and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra conducted by Edo de Waart. It's an 'oldie' from the Philips catalogue, which I like quite a lot.



Interesting. Edo de Waart was great in this repertoire. His piano concerto cycle with Rafael Orozco is one of my favorites.



http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/1169269/a/Serge+Rachmaninoff%3A+Piano+Concertos+Nos.+1-4%2FRhapsody+On+A+Theme+By+Paganini.htm


North Star

Rakh wrote lovely stuff, especially the 2nd & 3rd Concertos, Symphonic Dances, Isle of Death, preludes, and etudes.

Tempting:
[asin]B000RGSTDC[/asin]
"Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it." - Confucius

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ibanezmonster

Quote from: Chaszz on December 10, 2009, 05:51:04 PM
I'm sorry, but every work I've heard by him, including some you mention, seem to me to recycle the same limited batch of a few melodic and harmonic ideas.
It's called "style."

lescamil

Here is how I feel about Rachmaninoff: I believe he is about as far as you could get from being an innovator, relative to the other well known composers, but I still respect that he was good at what he did. The pieces he wrote are well crafted and a joy to listen to, despite Rachmaninoff's reluctance to 'get with the program', relative to the times he lived in. As a great admirer of 20th century music, I don't like that he turned his nose up to modernism, but he still knew how to compose well.
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Karl Henning

Quote from: lescamil on December 10, 2011, 08:15:27 PM
Here is how I feel about Rachmaninoff: I believe he is about as far as you could get from being an innovator, relative to the other well known composers. . . .

Was Bach an innovator?
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

lescamil

Quote from: karlhenning on December 11, 2011, 04:41:25 AM
Was Bach an innovator?

Uh oh, looks like I opened up a can of worms with that statement. I'll still go ahead and say yes.
Want to chat about classical music on IRC? Go to:

irc.psigenix.net
#concerthall

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,19772.0.html

-------------------------------------

Check out my YouTube page:

http://www.youtube.com/user/jre58591


Karl Henning

Quote from: lescamil on December 11, 2011, 10:26:13 AM
Uh oh, looks like I opened up a can of worms with that statement. I'll still go ahead and say yes.

Quote from: Greg on December 11, 2011, 04:16:28 PM
Definitely.

Then, list his innovations, thanks!

Thread duty:

It may be all the Haydn I've been listening to (and enjoying), but I find that my ears have a fresh attentiveness toward and hunger for the Rakhmaninov symphonies . . . really digging a performance of the Second Symphony by the San Diego Symphony at the moment.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

eyeresist

Ashkenazy in the symphonies is no longer satisfactory for me. Now I must choose between Svetlanov and Previn....

madaboutmahler

Thought I would revive this thread a little by posting my top recommendation for the Andsnes/Pappano/LSO recording of the 3rd/4th piano concertos. Nowadays, the recording I always go to for both of these works, even over Ashkenazy, however fine those classic performances are!

Anyone else know them? :)
"Music is ... A higher revelation than all Wisdom & Philosophy"
— Ludwig van Beethoven

Karl Henning

Splendid, Daniel! High time this thread was revived.

I don't know that recording, though . . . .
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Philoctetes

Quote from: eyeresist on December 21, 2011, 02:31:17 PM
Ashkenazy in the symphonies is no longer satisfactory for me. Now I must choose between Svetlanov and Previn....

..or The ROZH!

http://www.youtube.com/v/QNRxHyZDU-Q