RACHMANINOFF AND TCHAIKOVSKY

By Judith Eckelmeyer

(GRACE WOODS MUSIC SESSION NOVEMBER 18, 2024)

---

Rachmaninoff in 1921

I’ve been acquainted with Rachmaninoff’s second piano concerto since my early teen years, when it was my go-to recording to back up my cleaning chores at home on a Saturday. Decades later, after my grad school days, I learned there was a third piano concerto that was even more “dy-no-mite” and a great addition to my Rachmaninoff listening repertoire. But at that time, who knew there was a fourth piano concerto as well? ​

​Sergey Rakhmaninov (1873-1943), as the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians has it, was first taught at home in Novgorod, then at the St. Petersburg conservatory, where his piano performance and composing were ranked superior. His early career saw successful compositions in a number of genres. However, in spite of his enormous performing talent and increasing experience in composing in large genres, he seems not to have had a major spate of concert performances. His first symphony, performed in 1896, was considered a disaster, due not only to the performance led by fellow composer Glazunov (probably intoxicated) but also its below par composition. The ensuing depression that afflicted Rachmaninoff lasted for about four years. After successful performances of his music and medical help from a doctor specializing in hypnosis, he began to recover his self-assurance and once again resumed composing.

Portrait of Glazunov by Ilya Repin, 1887

By the time of his first tour of America in 1909, in which the repertoire included his third piano concerto (1908), Rachmaninoff was a “triple threat”—composer, performer, conductor. Even so, the tour was not one of his favorite experiences (a gross understatement); he refused contracts that would have extended his stay in this country. He returned to Russia to continue composing and undertaking a heavy performance schedule in Europe. In 1914 he toured Russia to raise money to support the country’s war effort. Russia’s chaotic state after the war impelled him to seek a visa to leave the country, but the colleague whom he asked to help with that was unable to fulfill the request. Fate intervened, though, with an invitation to perform in Sweden. The rest, as they say, is history. Rachmaninoff and his wife and children left Russia forever.

In a state of need, Rachmaninoff accepted several contracts from America. By this time, he had realized that his own piano performances were the best source of income. He entered that sphere vigorously, with not only a heavy performance schedule but, in 1920 a recording contract with RCA Victor as well. Having established himself and his family in New York, he toured extensively. As early as 1914 he began executing his plan for a fourth piano concerto. The composition process was extended by much revision and cutting, coming to fruition for its Philadelphia premiere in 1927. Even then, critical reviews forced him to further revision prior to its publication in 1941.

American music without doubt influenced the fourth concerto. Jazz rhythms and some harmonic and melodic elements are quite evident especially in the second movement. Rachmaninoff admired jazz pianists such as Art Tatum, and he would have heard Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue of 1924. Rachmaninoff’s lyrical idiom of the second and third concertos is there, but truncated; the great romantic melodic sweeps are long gone. It would have been interesting to have the uncut versions available for comparison, wouldn’t it?

Pianist Anna Fedorova and the Sinfonieorchester Sankt Gallen led by conductor Modestas Pitrenas perform the 'Piano Concerto No. 1' by Sergei Rachmaninoff during the NPO Radio 4 Sunday Morning Concert on Sunday the 2nd of February 2020

Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto no.2, op.18
​Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie led by Martin Panteleev  | Anna Fedorova, piano

Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie o.l.v. Gerard Oskamp Anna Fedorova, piano​

Rachmaninov: Pianoconcert nr.4 op.40 - Anna Fedorova

---

Tchaikovsky, c. 1888

Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) born in Vyatka province, Russia, strayed from his homeland several times. His ties to Russia pervaded his music. Even though he was not accepted as on the “Russian Five” nationalists, his life was focused on his native heritage. In the case of his visit to Italy in 1877, his journey with his brother Anatoly was a necessary reprieve after a disastrous set of circumstances: already having recognized his homosexuality he had been essentially prodded by a barrage of letters into marriage with Antonina Milyukova, ostensibly a fellow student at the conservatory with him. The marriage occurred, but Tchaikovsky escaped from his wife under a pretext until he had to return to her in Moscow to meet his teaching obligations at the Moscow Conservatory. His presence in Moscow and the stress of his unfulfilled marriage drove him to attempt suicide—which also failed. Anatoly whisked him away to Western Europe where they visited Switzerland, France and then Italy. 

Recovering his emotional balance in Rome during Carnevale, Tchaikovsky heard military music, folk tunes, and serenades in the streets around him; he also was able to see music in anthologies. From these resources he created a fantasia, now known as the Capriccio italien, Op.45, which was premiered in Moscow in 1880. It is characterized by brilliant orchestration, dance-like rhythms, uplifting melodies, great variety, and unmistakable ebullience, so foreign to his state of mind while he was back in Russia dealing with his shame and embarrassment over his failed marriage and his own sexual orientation. The Capriccio is certainly one of the most cheerful works he composed.
​

Tchaikovsky's Italian Capriccio
​Moscow City Symphony "Russian Philharmonic" Conductor -- Michail Jurowski

Judith Eckelmeyer ©2024