Sergei RACHMANINOV (1873-1943)
The Rachmaninov Collection
Symphony No 1 in D minor, Op 13, (1895) [47:01]
Symphony No 2 in E minor, Op 27 (1908) [55:25]
Symphony No 3 in A minor, Op 44, (1936) [53:50]
The Rock, Op 7 (1893) [14:48]
Symphonic Dances, Op 5, (1940) [34:59]
The Isle of the Dead, Op 29, (1907) [22:13]
Vocalise Op 34, No 14 (1912) [6:48] [64:06]
Tatarstan National Symphony Orchestra/Alexander Sladkovsky
rec. August 2020, Saydachev Concert Hall, Kazan
SONY CLASSICS 19439864962-4 [220:22]
For some reason, Rachmaninov is mostly celebrated for his piano music and his concertos; the three completed operas are neglected along with his huge number of songs, all of which reveal a wonderful side of this great composer. I was surprised to discover that the symphonies have been strangely overlooked by many of the great conductors of the last century; Toscanini, Walter, Karajan, Celibidache, Bernstein, Abbado, Muti, Giulini, and Haitink never conducted them. Tchaikovsky’s symphonies have always enjoyed success with almost all conductors, so why do Rachmaninov’s still not engage with musicians? Perhaps it is the dark imagery of a gloomy Slavic morbidity; it is difficult to find a picture of the composer without the grimace of a heavy lined face, seemingly older than his years. There is an overwhelming dark idiom throughout all three symphonies and the Symphonic Dances, with the Latin chant Dies irae cited frequently in his scores - as if the composer felt the shadow of death at his shoulder. Yet there are beautiful melodies throughout his musical canvasses, which the listener will take away from the concert hall and which remain long afterwards in his memory. Nostalgia is a constant theme in all his music, because he left Russia in 1917, yet this melancholy was there from the earlier works. After the Second Symphony, Rachmaninov did not return to the genre for another two decades, and the Symphonic Dances may be considered his farewell to musical creativity.
In considering the alternatives to this brilliant new set, ‘The Rachmaninov Collection,’ by Sladkovsky and his exciting orchestra from Kazan, I have looked at several others, first Ashkenazy, who has the Concertgebouw Orchestra in the palm of his hands, matched by wonderful sound. His First Symphony is enormously powerful, and the closing bars are immensely dramatic. Andre Previn was a fine conductor of Russian music and his Second Symphony with the LSO was widely acclaimed; he tends to bring out all the Romanticism from the score, and he is blessed with some outstanding woodwind players all backed by superb sound. For a more in-depth comparison, I listened to two other Russian sets: Maris Jansons with the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra on Warner/EMI from the early 1990s, and the DG collection from Mikhail Pletnev and his Russian National Orchestra, set down in the mid-1990s. The set on Warner France from Svetlanov and the Russian Federation Academic Symphony from the same period has problems in its recording balances with its woodwind and brass too prominent, and often the strings are not allowed to be heard clearly.
Alexander Sladkovsky is highly regarded today in Russia for his Rachmaninov; in 2018 he was awarded the Rachmaninov Prize for outstanding interpretation of his music. It was in 2018 that I first saw him conducting all the Rachmaninov concertos accompanying Matsuev with the Svetlanov Orchestra, and later I heard the Second Symphony in Kazan with his TNSO. Somehow, he manages to grasp the essence of the composer’s writing and his ideas and bring them out for his audiences, and this makes his collection of symphonic recordings hard to beat.
Of course, the First Symphony fell into neglect following its fiasco of a premiere and was not heard again until 1945 in a performance by Alexander Gauk in Moscow, since when, the work has been regularly heard in the concert hall and recorded. Here, in Sladkovsky’s interpretation, in the Allegro non troppo, the grim, rather auspicious opening on the strings and brass is immaculately performed. Sladkovsky is fortunate in his world-class soloists; there is the beautiful idea heard on the clarinet of Artur Muchamedzhin, which is picked up by the oboe of Andrey Shubin. The theme on the horns leads to a tremendous build-up of tension, dramatic on the brass, and suddenly heard on the violins in an achingly beautiful theme, as if the composer was sharing feelings for a lover, heard with great passion on the oboe, then suddenly there is a change of tempo, with magnificent brass, then a solo by the flute of Venera Porfireva. In the second movement, Allegro animato, there is some sumptuously beautiful playing, as if raising the contrast of light and darkness, a beautiful theme on the clarinet and then on the bassoons, and a delightful solo on the viola. In the third movement, Larghetto, the woodwind are stunning while there is gravitas in the low strings. The violin solo from Alina Yakonina against the pizzicato strings is achingly poignant then we hear the build up to great dramatic tension with the brass rising in impassioned feelings dropping off to dark reflective play on the clarinet’s beautifully held notes. In the finale, Allegro con fuoco, a thrilling opening with the brass announcing an idea - grand and triumphant – followed by dramatic playing from the strings - as if one instrument, reprising the first theme from the opening movement, and great playing from the oboe of Shubin and magnificent horns. Here one notes the truthful sound and superb, disciplined ensemble, then a mighty cymbals crash, amid stirring drama and excitement. Certainly, Rachmaninov’s First Symphony is a dark work, yet throughout, exciting flashes of brilliant orchestration appear; Sladkovsky produces a wonderfully transparent reading without overindulging in lush colours, holding true to the often heart-breaking Romanticism. His players respond with outstanding virtuosity and skill, each department playing as if their lives depended on it. The passion is measured, with the silences between passages masterly controlled.
In the Second Symphony, the Largo – allegro moderato, the opening theme is like a slow, living being emerging from darkness - rather dauntingly - and then from the strings, the secondary idea is beautiful and melodious, yet, the brass are ominous, then a climax, and suddenly the oboe of Shubin is heard, and the strings, and the clarinet of Muchamedzhin, leading to a wonderful solo violin passage by Yakonina. The tension and passion grow with a storm in the strings, then the coda in E minor and the culmination in two fortissimo bursts. In the second movement, Allegro molto, there is a lively ostinato on the strings and the ominous Dies irae citation on the brass, followed by a lengthy passage from the clarinet of Muchamedzhin and a lovely idea on strings with a cantabile and the central trio all brilliantly performed and showing masterly counterpoint and fugue writing, then again the brass intone the Dies irae lament before closing on a pianississimo quietness. In the Adagio, the first violins, clarinet solos were magnificent, again the Dies irae appears, while the enchanting theme on the cor anglais of Dmitry Nikitin is picked up by the whole orchestra before building to a great climax and descending to a peaceful rest, the horns reprise and then the music slowly dies away. In the finale, Allegro vivace, a glorious fanfare reprising the Dies irae, the timpani roll twice, starting a march-like idea on woodwind against the swooning strings; here is a theme of life and nature, about a man searching for love. The music rises gloriously, in a majestic idiom, and a brief reprise on the oboe, a whirlwind coda, fortissimo chorale and a bright jubilant finale.
The opening Lento of the Third Symphony starts solemnly with blazing sound from the whole orchestra, then stunningly beautiful phrasing from the strings, notably the clarinet, and some spectacular playing from the oboe, bassoon, and the muted brass, with signs of modernism from the xylophone, a dark and sinister on the brass and a hint from timpani, and, as if a warning, the strings attempt to revivify the idiom, and a moment of reflection from the woodwind, and the harps, before slowly dying away. In the second movement, Adagio ma non troppo, there is a wonderful solo on the horn, nostalgic with an accompaniment from the harps, and a great solo from the oboe, the strings join with flute and celeste, then comes a build-up of exciting harmonies on the low strings; again, the xylophone is heard, backed by the high woodwind, and the counter-bassoon, and horns, so nostalgic, rising to a climax, then the solo violin returns against the harp, flute, clarinet. In the finale, Allegro – allegro vivace, we hear a surge of late Romanticism, and glimpses of modernism again and dissonance are not far away, the cellos intone the Dies irae before Sladkovsky conjures remarkable switches of tempo and idiom on the strings and brass, followed by the excitement of the clash of cymbals, then transforming the idiom with upbeat woodwind, the side drum, a sudden rise in tension, the brass announce festive chords in a merry dance, switching idioms, in a rollercoaster of emotions finally ending gloriously. Rachmaninov’s rarely-heard The Rock completes this CD. This early piece is presented here in all its beautiful colours, starting darkly, the solo flute passages are stunningly played by Porfiereva, and the strings are beautifully caught in this recording - this is one of the finest accounts of this picturesque tone poem.
Often considered as his fourth symphony, the Symphonic Dances here are performed magnificently - each department of the orchestra is at the height of its powers. This was his last work, and nostalgia emerges in the citing of a theme from his First Symphony; here Rachmaninov writes more urgently using rhythm more in the style of Stravinsky, also the familiar Dies irae appears in the first dance of ‘Noon,’ Allegro con moto, following the exciting entry by the strings, the three-note idea from the woodwind reminds one of the theme of Queen Shemakha from Rimsky Korsakov’s The Golden Cockrel. The rhythms are exciting and brilliantly executed while an alto saxophone intones the first melody in glorious colours - another concession to modernism. In ‘Twilight,’ Andante, the muted brass and the pizzicato strings are followed by a fine subdued idea from Yakonina on violin, and there is a wonderful velvety shimmer in Sladkovsky’s orchestra with the conductor bringing all the poetry and Romanticism of the waltz, yet this is darker than a Viennese waltz, and more akin to Sibelius, or indeed that from Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony, and the brass ever so often interrupts the momentum somewhat macabrely. In the final movement, ‘Midnight,’ the Lento assai, resembles a struggle between death represented by the Dies irae, and the theme from the ninth section from his Vespers of ‘Resurrection,’ and in which life emerges victorious. In his score, the composer wrote ‘Hallelujah’. The darkly Romantic The Isle of the Dead is a rare visitor to concert halls, and here the sound of the violins evoking the oars stroking through water is magically captured with powerful drama. The Dies irae is heard clearly, and slowly, the music dies away. Completing this disc and the collection, we have the orchestral version by Rachmaninov of the Vocalise. It is beautifully performed here almost as if it were a little symphony, each department of the orchestra bringing out fully the late Romanticism of Rachmaninov’s poetic masterpiece.
All in all, then, this set of Rachmaninov’s orchestral music is highly recommended for its rich sound and magnificent performances – and it is as well performed as any rival set, including those by Ashkenazy, Jansons, Svetlanov and Pletnev, all of whom offer fine playing and interpretation, but the crucial improvement in Sladkovsky’s set is the feeling one has of sitting in a live concert hall, so vibrant and passionate is the experience. There is no sense of a sterile studio environment. In my opinion, the consistent richness of the playing, the astonishingly fine solo playing from woodwind, brass and strings make this a set on a par with, if not better than, its competitors. There is a difference in the extra orchestral pieces offered here, but anyone seeking a top set of Rachmaninov symphonies will be secure in acquiring this terrific set from Sony Classics. Most of all, one has the impression of listening to a live performance with all the excitement and passion of Rachmaninov’s symphonies. Alexander Sladkovsky’s vitally Romantic readings and the brilliant world-class playing of this orchestra – superbly recorded - make this set a strongly recommended purchase for lovers of Romantic Russian symphonic music.
Gregor Tassie
