Classical Works Spotlight #360--Rachmaninoff Goes Choral

[erik]

Besides his major accomplishments in the orchestral and piano solo fields, Sergei Rachmaninoff had a thing for choral works as well. Perhaps the best known such example of the latter is the work in this week's Classical Works Spotlight.

Rachmaninoff: THE BELLS, OP. 35

Although probably more influenced by Tchaikovsky than any other Russian composer that came to prominence after Tchaikovsky’s death in 1893, Sergei Rachmaninoff had an ultra-Romantic (some would say High Calorie) style all his own. This is reflected in the three symphonies he composed, not to mention the four piano concertos and the hugely popular Rhapsody On A Theme Of Paganini. But the composer also delved into the choral repertoire numerous times in his life. Even though very little of it was of a sacred nature (and in any case, after 1918, the darkening shadow of Communism in his native Russia did away with religion there for the next seventy years), and all of it was in Russian, those choral works were very vital to him. One of his best known in the form was “The Bells”, basically a cantata derived from the works of Edgar Allan Poe that were translated for the composer from English to Russian by the symbolist poet Konstantin Ballmont. The work is divided up into four parts: (1) Silver Bells; (2) Golden Bells; (3) Alarm Bells; and (4) The Iron Bell, and, besides two vocal soloists and chorus, requires an incredibly large orchestra that includes tubular bells and glockenspiel. And as is characteristic of many works by the composer, the famous Gregorian chant “Dies Irae” can be heard in places. “The Bells”, which premiered in 1913, was dedicated to conductor Willem Mengelberg and the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, who gave the work its first performance. Shortly after this, the composer found an even more enthusiastic champion of this work, and a lot of other of his works, in America in the form of Leopold Stokowski, who gave the American premiere of this work with the Philadelphia Orchestra, leading Rachmaninoff to endorse that orchestra as the one he felt was best at performing his orchestral works with consistency.



Tenor: KALUDI KALUDOV
Soprano: ALEXANDRINA PENDATCHANSKA

Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia

Philadelphia Orchestra/CHARLES DUTOIT (London/Decca)

Included:
SPRING (Baritone: SERGEI LEIFERKUS)
THREE RUSSIAN SONGS

[egoodstein]

A very interesting work that does occupy a kind of odd middle ground between (or maybe among) choral symphony/tone poem/'oratorio' of sorts, and with a lot of atmosphere, if on the Romantic side, and intriguing for the scope and 'force' of instrumentation working with the vocals. I think it is right to say that Rachmaninoff extends many of Tchaikovsky's ideas/instincts into the 20th century, and such work is also an intriguing contrast to R. Strauss or Mahler (or even some later British composers like Britten or Vaughn Williams). It's also distinctive to take works of Poe. Rachmaninoff's vocal works are pretty cool in their own late Romantic way, including his somewhat overlooked songs, and if ok at times 'overrich' almost, he is a very appealing/accessible, skilled and effective composer. I can imagine Dutoit does a fine job with this work, as he has a particular feel for Romantic era composers I think, and the PO would seem right at home, espec. given that
history with Stokowski.

[erik]

I think it also has to do with the material on which such choral works are based on; and this is why the inspiration of Poe figured in heavily to Rachmaninoff's concept here. "The Bells", even with the large orchestration and choral forces involved, is not an especially long work (just thirty-five minutes or so on this particular recording). And one must remember that this was the continuation of a fairly creative streak that had begun after the composer had recovered from the absolutely catastrophic first performance of his First Symphony--a streak that lasted almost up to the moment of his passing in 1943.