Record of the day: Sergei Rachmaninov, "Concerts No. 1 & 2"

Record of the day: Sergei Rachmaninov, “Concerts No. 1 & 2”

Sergei Rachmaninov
“Concerts N° 1 & 2” (Cd Decca 455235-2)

Beloved by the public, snubbed when not ignored by many critics (always suspicious of mass success), Rachmaninov continues to be a very controversial author, torn between those who praise him as a champion of the reassuring values ​​of tonality and tradition and those who consider him a sick retrograde of nostalgia, regardless of the developments that occurred in the musical history of the twentieth century, linked to a world now corroded and devoid of life.

In reality Rachmaninov, just like Britten, Shostakovic and Bartók, followed his own path that was independent of the two great currents into which the world of composers was divided until the 1950s, those of neoclassicism linked to the figure of Stravinsky and of the twelve-tone technique carried forward from Schoenberg.
The great piano virtuoso Rachmaninov, who triumphed on stages all over the world, was actually well aware of the developments in the modernity of language that occurred around him; he simply believed he had to integrate, within his own style, only the elements that did not conflict with its essentially lyrical nature, imbued with romanticism and reminiscences of the Russian popular tradition, expressed in a style that is too easy to dismiss as banally old-fashioned and reactionary.

Just listen to the “Variations on a Theme by Paganini” or the “Fourth Piano Concerto” to discover a dryness of style and a formal experimentation that is very different from the works presented in today’s CD, which in any case is excellent for giving a shock to your day and presents two exciting works, which overflow with youthful impetus, even exaggerated in their constant desire for singing combined with piano writing that takes no prisoners, bristling with thorny, almost cruel obstacles, so much so is their diabolical technical difficulty that forces the soloist to always keep the accelerator pedal to the maximum without sparing himself (naturally Vladimir Ashkenazy triumphs masterfully over all these obstacles and André Previn follows suit).

The celebrity of these pages has unfortunately obscured many beautiful compositions that show us a very different face of the Russian musician; let’s think of the sacred works, the conspicuous lieder and choral production, all scores that make him appear a little less Hulk and a little more likeable.

Carlo Boccadoro, composer and conductor, was born in Macerata in 1963. He lives and works in Milan. He collaborates with soloists and orchestras in different parts of the world. He is the author of numerous books on musical topics.

This text is taken from “Lunario della musica: A record for every day of the year” published by Einaudi, courtesy of the author and the publisher.