Composer's Footprints: Rachmaninoff!
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- Опубликовано: 7 фев 2025
- It's very easy to take for granted a composer as popular as Rachmaninoff--to characterize him as a romantic tunesmith and overlook the very special subtlety and coherence of his musical language. This chat offers an opportunity to dig a bit deeper and perhaps view his works in a new light.
Easily the most enlightening and enjoyable 31:41 that I've spent on RUclips in a loooong time! Dave I have to think that it was a lot of work to put together, and I join others in thanking you.
You're welcome!
Dave, this was an amazing teaching lesson. It's gonna change completely my listening experience, not only to Rachmaninoff's works, but the composers you talked about (Sibelius), and the ones to come (guess Shostakovich's initials, that I never catch when I play one of his works, and more things he was into, will pop-up in the future). Thank you for all your hard work. Ignacio.
This truly is a great idea for a series...and I love the samples! I'm also glad to see that you have been bringing back some classic series like the world's most beautiful melodies, and fabulous concert programs, too! Oh and I forgot to mention it before, but congrats on 50K subscribers!!!
I love this series! One of the best you've ever done on this channel, hoping you keep it up.
Great work! I want lots more footprints. Every time I learn more about great music, my enjoyment of it increases in leaps and bounds
I have no hesitation in saying that this is by far the best sort of thing I have ever seen/heard you do.
My listening to Rachmaninov has been transformed in half an hour.
I will listen to the Sibelius, which I wasn't able to catch.
Dear Dave, this new series on composer's footprints is perhaps my favorite of any series you've done, and this particular episode is one of the best of any video I've seen. Thank you, and I can't wait to hear more. Wesley
Excellent observations, David. And I love the Naxos samples! And I’m appreciating his Symphonic Dances more and more every time I hear it. The squiggles are like the apotheosis of the Dies Irae fingerprints (if.that’s the right word).
Dave, you make the internet worthwhile.
Thank you Dave for a wonderful lesson! Rachmaninoff will never be the same to me again, in the best possible way!
Truly great stuff here Dave. Music appreciation at it's very best. I feel like both Sibelius and Rachmaninoff have been "unlocked" for me.
I adore Rachmaninoff--all the orchestra and piano music and the lieder. .That saxophone solo in the Dances is gold.
Same here. Rachmaninov is my favorite!
My father dismissed Rachmaninoff and his opinion affected me even though I enjoyed his music. I now have a better appreciation thanks to this video.
Another fantastic video in this new series.
Let's keep this series alive for a long time so we can follow many, many more footprints 😊
Charming and erudite as ever. I have to admit though, I expected to hear Rachmaninov's footprints in other people's music in this as the title seemed to suggest that. Cheers!
AMAZING series
Hm I need to find Slatkin's Vox recordings, I have the ones on Naxos but those excerpts sound v nice! The quote from his Vespers in the Symphonic Dances is specifically the part about forgiveness of sins and resurrection of the dead so, if his music was "haunted" throughout his life by the Dies irae, he ultimately decided to banish it with a pious valediction that is quite touching and effective.
When I first heard the Dies Irae in everything he wrote I thought it was just my natural tendency to invent a harmony. Now I don't have to go over this in therapy!
Loved it! Rachmaninoff has always been one of my musical gods, probably because my dad had an almost rapturous reverence for the man and his music. I read that many complained about the vast majority of works being in a minor key. He allegedly responded that the minor could be far more complex and expressive. As for the bells, chants and liturgical expressions, his last conscious request was for a priest and the last rites in the Russian Orthodox Church.
It is just me or does Rachmaninov use the rhythm of the last movement of his First Symphony in the final movement of his Symphonic Dances? Since at the time of composition, Rachmaninov thought his First Symphony was lost forever and thought getting back at critics and the world by entering this little portion. I'm not musically educated, so all I got to go on is on how I hear it. On another note, give a listen to the BARCAROLE movement of Rachmaninov's Suite for Two Pianos, Opus 5. What a gem. THANKS DAVE !!!
The rhythm is there but I don't think it's a quotation--it's a common rhythm.
He does quote the main theme of the first symphony at the end of the first movement of the Symphonic Dances while the glockenspiel plays the "squiggles". Such a gorgeous, nostalgia inducing moment. I suppose it could be considered another example of all 3 footprints at once: the First Symphony theme is based on Dies Irae, the glockenspiel sounds like bells and it's playing the squiggles.
Hello Dave. Thanks for you insights, eloquence, and enthusiasm. I've learned a lot from you. When I go to the symphony there are usually works by more than one composer on the program. Have you done a video about recordings which include works by more than one composer in terms of how the pieces do...or do not...enhance each other, illuminate each other, respond to each other, etc.? For example, I have K. Nagano's recording of Brahms Symphony #4 paired with Schoenberg's Variations Op. 31 on Harmonia Mundi. Thanks much in advance.
Sure. If a recording has works by more than one composer, then that's an issue I will usually address.
I think Dave's Great Concert Programs does that to quite a degree. The works all logically function together in a satisfying sequence.
Dave - this is just a GREAT series. Look forward to more. Great information to allow us to really learn.
Is there a reference recording for the symphony collection?
Thanks, but please watch the video before you comment!
@@DavesClassicalGuideI have. It’s wonderful. I was about halfway through. Love the squiggle concept.
I’ll be watching all of these Footprints vids. Excellent as usual Dave 🎯
The first piano sonata has grown on me but the second is still my favorite. Don't forget there are at least 3 versions of it: the original, the revised version, and then Horowitz made one using bits of each.
There are more than that. Several other pianists play hybrid versions (Steven Osborne on Hyperion, for example).
The Prelude in C-sharp minor also includes the quotation of the Dies irae, so it is another combo with the bells evocations.
Yes!
I wonder if you might be interested in making a video about 4-hand piano music. There are at least a few significant compositions, such as the Schubert F-minor Fantasy and Debussy’s Six Epigraphs Antiques. There are also the vast number of transcriptions for home mysic-making-including even Stravinky’s Rite of Spring, whose 4-hand arrangement was first recorded by a very young MTT. It seemed like an oddity at the time, but other recordings followed. Just a suggestion, perhaps not of much general appeal, I admit.
I've made at least half a dozen--music by Brahms, Schubert, Schumann, Tchaikovsky and others.
@@DavesClassicalGuide I should have known--as a daily viewer! 🤦♂
Dave, the final music today was beautiful so I went looking for your symphony reviews. I found your "Repertoire: The BEST Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 2", the same for Symphony 1, and a Repertoire of Rachmaninoff cycles. I can't find a Repertoire for The BEST Rachmaninoff Symphony 3. Does it exist?
I don't think so.
Dies Irae obsession contest: Rachmaninoff or Daugherty?
What is a good recording of the original "Dies irae" ? Would be interesting to hear a good recording of the work that Rachmaninoff was obsessed with.
It's just chant, and while chantophiles will quibble over this or that, just look it up on RUclips. It's only a few minutes long and there's no need to get crazy over which version you hear.
@@DavesClassicalGuide Great, thank you.
I'd love it if you extended the "footprints" series to include the likes of Max Steiner, Miklos Rozsa, David Raksin, etc. (I'm an old-movie fanatic from 'way back). And don't you hear the "Dies Irae" in Sondheim's "Sweeney Todd"?
Yes, I do. I'm not excluding any great composer, but the problem is that I need to be able to play samples so I have to exclude any names that present copyright issues, unfortunately.