(This is another update. Be sure to check this out first, as an intro:
It is one of the most famous melodies in the history of music.)
Rachmaninov: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, age 61
Here is just one very modern recording…
You can find many others on YouTube. Most people will prefer the more modern sound, especially for the orchestra. You can find countless other videos of Yuja Wang playing this and many other things. She is today a superstar. You may want to watch some of her videos where you can see her playing.
Section 1:
- Introduction: Allegro vivace
- Variation 1: (Precedente)
- Theme: L’istesso tempo
- Variation 2: L’istesso tempo
- Variation 3: L’istesso tempo
- Variation 4: Più vivo
- Variation 5: Tempo precedente
- Variation 6: L’istesso tempo
- Variation 7: Meno mosso, a tempo moderato
- Variation 8: Tempo I
- Variation 9: L’istesso tempo
- Variation 10: L’istesso tempo
Section 2:
- Variation 11: Moderato
- Variation 12: Tempo di minuetto (D minor)
- Variation 13: Allegro (D minor)
- Variation 14: L’istesso tempo (F major)
- Variation 15: Più vivo scherzando (F major)
- Variation 16: Allegretto (B♭ minor)
- Variation 17: (Allegretto) (B♭ minor)
- Variation 18: Andante cantabile (D♭ major)
Section 3:
- Variation 19: A tempo vivace
- Variation 20: Un poco più vivo
- Variation 21: Un poco più vivo
- Variation 22: Marziale. Un poco più vivo (Alla breve)
- Variation 23: L’istesso tempo
- Variation 24: A tempo un poco meno mosso (A minor → A major)
Instrumentation:
- solo piano
- piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets in Bb, 2 bassoons
- 4 horns in F, 2 trumpets in C, 3 trombones, tuba
- timpani, triangle, snare drum, cymbals, bass drum, glockenspiel
- harp
- strings
And here is Rachmaninov, playing himself…
This is the recording by the master, the whole piece with the theme and all the variations. You don’t want to listen to this with earphones or a really expensive sound system, because the sound is now ancient, but the playing is fantastic.
The story of Rachmaninov’s life is much too long to even attempt to describe here, but we can safely say that he was one of the last Romantics. At the time he lived it was in vogue to throw out the beautiful harmonies and sweeping Romantic lines of the 1800s, but a few composers bucked the trend. Today we see this Romantic tradition alive in the music of great composers who write for movies, most of all in John Williams.
Rachmaninov (April 1st, 1873 – March 28th, 1943) lived to the middle of WWII, far beyond the limit of what is normally used to define the Romantic period, which is yet another reason why that period is really alive and well right up to this very moment.
He wrote this composition late in his life, in 1934, only nine years before his death. He was one of the greatest pianists who has ever lived.
Somewhere in Time…
To show how Romantic music is timeless, here is the theme from Somewhere in Time, a movie that appeared in 1980, composed by John Barry. This movie was a “sleeper”. It was never particularly successful at the box office, but it did star “Superman”, Christopher Reeve. Rachmaninov’s famous theme was used in the same movie, to set the same mood.
If you listen carefully you will hear that one does not sound more modern than the other. Rachmaninov’s music is more masterful, but it could have been written this year by John Williams.