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Painting from a Decca collection of Rachmaninoff concertos (with Ashkenazy and Previn)
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to be trying to practise in a bungalow
at the stylishly named Gardens of Allah
in Hollywood when Harpo Marx, next
door and also there to practise, took
exception to his dogged repetition.
Marx’s revenge was to open his doors and
windows and play the first four bars of
the C sharp minor Prelude fortissimo for
two hours straight. Rachmaninoff had to
ask the manager to move him away from
“that dreadful harpist.”
Today, if you want to hear a comparison
of the sonics of the early Edison
and Victor acoustic recordings and the
later Victor electrical recording, you
can find a ten-minute YouTube video
which demonstrates the differences very
clearly. The piece used for the demo is
(naturally)…the C sharp minor Prelude!
(It can be found at: www.youtube.
com/watch?v=6jKg0uGQxrM).
Back in Russia in 1899 after his British
visit, Rachmaninoff composed only a
couple of occasional pieces, including one
68 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY Magazine
in praise of champagne entitled Were you “Mr. Rachmaninoff, nobody knows you
hiccuping? dedicated to a young woman yet, but you will be a great man one day.”
friend, Natalia Satin. She was one of It appeared things were looking up. Back
the daughters of the aunt who had taken in Moscow Rachmaninoff completed
him in after he left Zveref in 1889, and the second and third movements of
she was to become his wife in 1902. The the Second Piano Concerto; indeed so
dedication facetiously declared, “No, my many ideas had he that a second, exu-
Muse has not died,” which makes one berant Suite for two pianos, Op. 17, was
wonder if at this point Rachmaninoff composed.
did not fear the opposite.
Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2
Hoping to bring him inspiration, is now so often played that familiarity
a well-connected friend arranged for can get in the way of a real listen. Its
Rachmaninoff to meet the writer Leo themes are well-known in part because
Tolstoy. What actually happened at many have been lifted for pop songs,
that meeting was recounted in at least including Full Moon and Empty Arms,
two different versions by Rachmaninoff This Is My Kind of Love and All By Myself.
himself, but it is certain that Tolstoy At the movies, it formed the soundtrack
was of little comfort. He exhorted the of the 1945 Brief Encounter and parts of
younger man to hard work, after which it turned up in The Seven-Year Itch. First
Rachmaninoff was asked to perform. performed on October 27, 1901 with
Accompanying Chaliapin, he played Rachmaninoff as soloist (his first such
Fate, later included in Op. 21, but perhaps appearance in eight years), it is now one
not his best song. Tolstoy’s reaction was of the great concertos of the Romantic
to consign Rachmaninoff’s music to repertoire.
the dustbin along with Beethoven’s(!), Rachmaninoff’s critics have argued
and the writings of Pushkin for good that his Romanticism places him nota-
measure. “Tell me, is such music needed bly behind the times, even though
by anyone?” he asked, looking at the the Romantics are said to begin with
composer directly. Though being put Beethoven, reach an apogee with Schu-
into the same basket as Beethoven and bert and Brahms in the mid-19
Pushkin might have been flattering,
Rachmaninoff was much discouraged.
The Satins decided that measures
must be taken. Rachmaninoff’s aunt
Varvara had recently been treated successfully
by a hypnotist, Dr. Nikolai
Dahl. During the first months of 1900,
Rachmaninoff saw him every day, hearing
over and over, by his own account,
such posthypnotic suggestions as You
will begin to write your concerto... you will
work with great facility... the concerto will
be excellent. Results were not immediate,
but a few months later Rachmaninoff
started work on his Second Piano Concerto,
destined to become his best-known
work. He dedicated it to Dahl.
Following his hypnosis treatment,
Rachmaninoff went on vacation to the
Crimea. In Yalta his friend Chaliapin
sang a recital which included songs by
Rachmaninoff, and after the performance
a small man with a beard came
backstage to congratulate the singer.
This was the playwright Anton Chekhov,
and once done with Chaliapin he
turned to the composer and told him,
th century
and decline with John Philip Sousa and
Engelbert Humperdinck in the 20th .
In any case such a classification may
create expectations in the listener but it
does not make a lot of difference to the
composer. Rachmaninoff said of himself
that he did not really understand modern
Why a free version? music and was not able to write it. That
did not mean he condemned it, for in fact
For years now, we have been publishing,
he
on
was
our
eloquent
Web site,
in his
a free
praise
PDF
of Stravin-
version of our magazine.
sky. His own take on the nature of music
The reason is simple. We know you’re
was
looking
given
for
around
information,
1933 to
and
a Mr. Walter
that is almost certainly why you’ve come to
Koons,
visit our
who
site.
wrote
And
to
that’s
request
why
it. As he did
we give away what some competitors consider
in music,
to be
Rachmaninoff
a startlingly large
paints a picture.
amount of information…for free.
“Music is a calm moonlit night, a rustle
We would give it all away for free, if we
of
could
summer
still
foliage.
stay in business.
Music is the distant
Recent figures indicate that each issue
peal
is getting
of bells
downloaded
at eventide!
as many
Music is born
as 100,000 times, and that figure keeps growing.
only in the heart and it appeals only to
Yes, we know, if we had a nickel for each
the
download…
heart; it is Love! The sister of Music
Truth is, we’re in the business of helping
is Poesy,
you enjoy
and
music
its mother
at home
is Sorrow!’
under the best possible conditions. And movies
By
too.
1901
We’ll
Rachmaninoff
do what we need
had been
to do in order to get the information to you.
spending all or part of the summer at
Of course, we also want you to read our
Ivanovka
published
where
editions
the Satin
too. We
daughters also
hope that, having read this far, you’ll want
stayed.
to read
During
on.
the winters he lodged in
a good-sized suite in their house. He
and the eldest daughter, Natalia Satin,
also a pianist, had grown close, but their