Trifonov Plays Rachmaninoff No. 3

Rachmaninoff had been searching for a suitable subject for a tone poem for several years when on a visit to Paris in the summer of 1907 he found his inspiration in the painting The Isle of the Dead by the Swiss artist Arnold Böcklin (1827-1901). He composed his intense, quasi-Wagnerian musical response to it in Dresden, Germany, during the first three months of 1909. The painting shows the tiny, bleakly rocky island, with its dark cypress trees and tombs, on a sunless day. It is seen from across a body of water, presumably, mirroring Classical mythology, the river Styx. Charon the boatman crouches in the stern of a tiny boat. A figure draped in white stands in front of him, likely the soul he is bearing to the island. A coffin draped in white rests in the bow.

In his music, Rachmaninoff quoted the Dies Irae, the sombre theme from the Gregorian chant Mass for the Dead that Hector Berlioz had used in the final movement of the Symphonie fantastique. Rachmaninoff employed it throughout his career, most audibly in such late compositions as the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini and the Symphonic Dances.

The slow, rocking rhythm that opens The Isle of the Dead may suggest the motion of the waves, and of the boat as it is being rowed across the water to the island. The dark, muted orchestral colours enhance the desolate, doleful mood. Once the island has been reached, in a fulsome climax of sound, Rachmaninoff briefly departs from Böcklin’s conception by offering contrasting music of a warm, hopeful nature. He revealed that it represented the recollected joys of a life lived. A furious climax negates such feelings. The Dies irae, appearing undisguised for the first time, heralds the return of the sombre opening section, and a gradual fading away into silence.

Program Notes © 2019 Don Anderson

Early in Scriabin’s career, he focused his energies on a career as a concert pianist, both inside and outside Russia. He played a great deal of his own music, which at that time was sufficiently traditional — with its echoes of Chopin and Tchaikovsky – to find widespread favour with audiences. Later he shifted his efforts primarily to composition. Time and a variety of influences made his music more individual. He developed interests in Liszt, Wagner and Debussy, for example, three of the great musical radicals of the day.

He also embraced philosophical concepts drawn from eastern religions and nonconformist Russian poetry. He came to think of music as a medium for the expression of his mystical beliefs, as well as a means to bring about the spiritual enlightenment of listeners. He saw himself as the purveyor of universal truth, his goal to prepare humanity, through music, for the upcoming intermingling of man and divinity.

These feelings inspired him to compose music of soaring emotion, new, unusual harmonies, and immense colour. These qualities are conveyed most successfully through the orchestra, a medium to which he came late. All his orchestral scores date from the period 1895 to 1910. The first two symphonies (1900 and 1901) display recognizable roots in mainstream late-romantic style. With Symphony No. 3 (1904, sub-titled The Divine Poem), he made a strong shift toward his mature, individual style.

Two years later he published a lengthy poem. Initially titled Orgiastic Poem, he changed the name to The Poem of Ecstasy and declared it the written embodiment of the orchestral work that he had already begun. Poem and music celebrate ecstasy of both the creative and erotic varieties. Opening in quiet contemplation, the musical poem (whose composition occupied him until 1908) consists of repeated waves of energy. Interludes of relative repose divert each wave from fulfilling the music’s maximum emotional potential. Solo trumpet plays a featured role in leading the way, until finally all uncertainties evaporate in the overwhelming sunburst of the concluding section.

Program Notes © 2019 Don Anderson

In anticipation of his first tour of America, Rachmaninoff composed a new piano concerto. He played the solo part himself at the premiere of Concerto No. 3 in New York on November 28, 1909. It impressed neither audiences nor critics. They considered it too long, too complex, and less immediately attractive than his already beloved No. 2, and other soloists found it too demanding. It lay under the shadow of No. 2 for many years, until increasing numbers of new, ever more virtuosic pianists brought it into the limelight.

The opening movement begins with a leisurely theme suggestive of a melancholy Russian folk song. It appears simple, but it is remarkably haunting; it is also ripe for elaboration, and Rachmaninoff realizes its potential to the full. A solo cadenza of unprecedented power and difficulty crowns the movement. The slow second movement is an imaginative, wide-ranging theme and variations. A brilliant outburst from the soloist then heralds the dashing finale. This is a tour-de-force for all concerned, ending in a galvanizing, toccata-like section.

Program Notes © 2019 Don Anderson