Rachmaninov: Variations On A Theme Of Chopin / Preludes

Idil Biret

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Cat No: 8554426

Release Date: 12 January 1999

Label: Naxos - Nxc / Naxos Classics

Packaging Type: Jewel Case

No of Units: 1

Barcode: 636943442623

Genres: Classical

Composer/Series: RACHMANINOV

Description
Sergey Rachmaninov(1873-1943)Variations on a Themeof Chopin, Op. 22;Moment musical Op. 16,No. 2 (revised version 1940); Song without Words;Canon in E minor;Fughetta in F major; Morceau de fantaisie in G minor; Pi?¿ce in D minor;Fragments; Oriental Sketch; Prelude in F major; Prelude in D minorThe Russian composer and pianist Sergey Rachmaninov was born in 1873,the son of aristocratic parents. His father's improvidence, however, led to achange in the fortunes of the family when increasing debts necessitated thesale of one estate after another, followed by removal to an apartment in StPetersburg. It was there that Rachmaninov, at the age of nine, entered theConservatory on a scholarship. The subsequent separation of his parents and hisown failure in general subject examinations brought about his move to theMoscow Conservatory, where he was under the strict supervision of NikolayZverev, in whose house he lodged. In Moscow, as time went on, he wonconsiderable success, both as a performer and as a composer, although it was atfirst on the second of these roles that he seemed likely to concentrate.The Revolution of 1917 brought many changes. While some musiciansremained in Russia, others chose temporary or permanent exile abroad.Rachmaninov took the latter course and thereafter found himself obliged to relyon his remarkable gifts as a pianist for the support of himself and his family,at the same time continuing his work as a conductor. Composition inevitably hadto take second place and it was principally as a pianist, one of the greatestof his time, that he became known to audiences.Rachmaninov's works for solo piano had been written principally in theyears before the Revolution, with only the later addition of his Variationson a Theme of Corelli, in fact the well known La Follia theme, in1931, when he revised the second of his two Piano Sonatas. His Variationson a Theme of Chopin, Opus 22 was written between August 1902 and February1903 and first performed by the composer in Moscow in the latter month. Thetheme is that of the well known Prelude in C minor, Opus 28, No. 20. Thesolemn theme is heard first followed by 22 variations, the first offering asingle melodic line, which is, in the second and third, further developed withcontrapuntal embellishment. The work, which is in a continuous form, developsin volume and complexity, with a sixth variation with cross-rhythms and in avery characteristic romantic mood. Filigree textures mark the seventh andeighth variations, before the resolute determination of the ninth, furtherdeveloped in the tenth variation. Remoter territory of greater serenity isexplored in what follows, leading to a twelfth contrapuntal version and achordal thirteenth. The mood of tranquillity is broken by more resoluteelements in the fourteenth, with its solemnly descending chords, leading to thescherzo-like fifteenth and a gently wistful sixteenth. The following derivativeof the theme offers weighty chords, before a more tender mood pr
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