Sergey Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)
Rachmaninoff Stories for viola and piano
(arrangements by Mathis Rochat)
Mathis Rochat (viola)
Erdem Misirlioglu (piano)
rec. 2021, Waterloo, Belgium
PROSPERO CLASSICAL PROSP0032 [64]
Rachmaninoff himself was not allergic to arranging other composer’s music when the mood or concert advantage took a hold. Look at his work on pieces by Bach, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, Kreisler, Schubert and Mussorgsky, to mention just a few. He is even said to have transcribed Tchaikovsky’s Manfred for two pianos although that score remains lost …. at least for now. Shame about the missing Manfred.
However, when others have taken to arranging Rachmaninoff, the critical reception has sometimes had more in common with the Siberian permafrost than with a Mediterranean summer. Respighi’s work on some of the Études-Tableaux has been tolerated. I rather warm to those five pieces he selected. With their vivid moods and titles they hold the door open to ‘enhancement’. Recordings on Telarc (Lopez-Cobos), Conifer (Rozhdestvensky), BBC Legends (Svetlanov), Neschling (Bis) and EMI (Yuri Krasnopolsky) have often been object lessons.
There have been numerous transcriptions, variously done, of Rachmaninoff’s Vocalise; Serebrier’s, Klin’s and Stokowski’s for example. The famous Prelude in C sharp minor has also had work done; I can think of Henry Wood’s orchestration recorded by Lyrita.
Such attempts are in jeopardy of being slapped down as tasteless or worse, though. It takes a piratical valour or some would say foolhardiness to chance one’s arm on re-instrumenting Rachmaninoff. That said, I rather enjoyed the efforts of Alexander Warenberg (b.1952) in very freely arranging the Symphony No 2 for piano and orchestra as a sort of “Piano Concerto No 5”. The score was even published by Boosey & Hawkes. In some quarters that “Concerto” was met with something close to outrage.
Similar work has been done by Alan Kogosowski in “scaling up” the Trio Elégiaque as a 45-minute Concerto Elégiaque for piano and orchestra. Rumanian conductor Corneliu Dumbraveanu has made an orchestral up-scaling of the Corelli Variations. These latter two have been recorded by Chandos with Järvi père conducting on Chandos. The two suites for two pianos have also been “souped up” pretty successfully by Rebekah Harkness (1) and Lee Hoiby (2) for piano and orchestra. Years ago, they were recorded by Citadel. More recently (2014) five of the solo piano pieces have been orchestrated by Ira Levin for the Orquestra Sinfônica de Porto Alegre. There is no sign of the trend letting up.
The viola/piano arrangements heard on this disc are variously from cello and piano, solo piano and song originals. Speaking of the songs, we hear the famous and irresistible Vocalise (which has had much attention from many composers and musicians) plus three other Romances from the
Opp 21 and 38 sets. Rochat does nothing to brutalise or even lightly bruise these beautiful yet fragile stems; quite an achievement. The Op 21 No 7 is very touching. There’s even a brief and vigorously thoughtful work by Rochat: the ‘Capriccio for Viola solo on a Theme of Rachmaninoff’. As for the Vocalise, it’s a pleasing showcase for Rochat’s creamily undulant and highly persuasive legato.
The leap from cello and piano to viola and piano is not Olympian. Accordingly, the outcome of Rochat’s work on the Cello Sonata and the Prelude and Danse Orientale is very fluent. The arranger’s playing and that of his pianist collaborator is convincingly eloquent, poetic and dramatic. I especially admired the Danse Orientale and the two central movements of the Sonata. In fact, there were more than a few moments when I could have taken this to be the composer’s intended format and sound for the Sonata.
If you cannot get enough Rachmaninoff then this disc is for you. Rochat knows his stuff and what could have been a routine time-server during his pandemic isolation has had a musically fruitful outcome. The fold-out ‘case’ and booklet in the form of an interview (German and English) with Rochat is liberally sprinkled with photographs of the composer rather than being the accustomed performer marketing eulogy.
Rob Barnett
Contents
1-2. Pieces for Cello and Piano, Op 2
3. Prelude for Piano solo, Op 23 No 4
4-7. Sonata in G minor for Cello and Piano, Op 19
8. Zdes’ Khorosho – 12 Romances, Op 21 No 7
9. Daisies – 6 Romances, Op 38 No 3
10. The Dream – 6 Romances, Op 38 No 5
11. Mathis Rochat: Capriccio for Viola solo on a Theme of Rachmaninoff
12. Vocalise – 14 Romances, Op 34 No 14
