Day 141
Rachmaninov Variations on a theme by Corelli
Vladimir Ashkenazy
I have played some of the major Rachmaninov orchestral works - I have quite enjoyed the experience but I think that they are sometimes rather over written. The second symphony is a case in point. It always used to be performed with cuts and though it is heresy to say so I think that practice should be resumed. It is one of those piece when, after playing for ages, you turn the page expecting to be at the end and find that there are still pages and pages to play. I actually prefer the first symphony, though again that is rather too long.
I don’t know much of the solo piano music. I have attempted to play some of the easier pieces but the reality is that there is not much that is really playable without a much more solid technique that I possess. I’d not heard these variations before. They are a comparatively late work (1931) - indeed it seems to have been his last major solo piano composition. They are very typical of Rachmaninov with some inventive harmony and plenty of virtuoso technical challenges. I am not sure that I would want to listen to it again but I am glad that I made its acquaintance.
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