In 1901, after the great success of his Piano Concerto No. 2, Sergey Rachmaninov launched a triple career, as pianist, conductor and composer. But in the following years, as his self-confidence grew and his economic situation ­improved, he cut back on his commitments to performing and conducting in order to concentrate increasingly on composing. This balancing act continued until it was cut short in 1917 by the Russian Revolution.

A conservative and traditionalist in politics as in art, Rachmaninov viewed the Revolution with horror. He left the country with his family in 1917, never to return, eventually settling in the United States. As his property in Russia was confiscated and his sources of income dried up, he realized that in order to provide for his family he had to become a full-time pianist, since it was in this capacity that he was best known in the West. But these economic constraints consumed him, leaving him little time to compose. “For 17 years, since I lost my country, I have felt unable to compose. When I was on my farm in Russia during the summers, I had joy in my work. Certainly, I still write music – but it does not mean the same to me now,” he said during a 1933 interview. After 1917, his only major works were his Piano Concerto No. 4 (1926), Variations on a Theme of Corelli (1931), Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (1934), Symphony No. 3 (1938) and the Symphonic Dances.

Composed in 1940 and dedicated to Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Symphonic Dances are Rachmaninov’s last work and often considered his best orchestral composition. Surprised by its favorable reception, Rachmaninov commented: “I don’t know how it happened. It must have been my last spark.”

The work is something of a retrospective nostalgic piece that recalls pre-Bolshevik Russia, with its romantic sentimentality and the pervasiveness of the Russian Orthodox Church. Two of the three movements contain references to previous works: The principal theme from the First Symphony appears in the coda of the first movement and a modified version of the syncopated chant “Blessed be the Lord” from the Vespers in the last.

The first dance, marked Non allegro, is written in ABA form, the B section providing a sharp and often un-dance-like, contrast. It has a primeval quality with its pounding ostinato and large percussion section. In it Rachmaninov demonstrates a particular interest in the musical texture of individual instruments. The middle section features the oboe and the alto saxophone – Rachmaninov’s only scoring for this instrument – in a series of birdcalls, followed by another of the composer’s broad romantic themes on the saxophone, taken up later by the violins. The transition back to the first dance theme is a gradual build-up of dynamics, speed and instrumental forces. A muted coda with glockenspiel finishes the movement.

A fanfare for muted trumpets introduces the second dance, Andante con moto (Tempo di valse), followed by a mini-cadenza for solo violin that quotes the main theme of the first dance. The second dance is a dreamy serenade, recalling the waltzes of Glazunov and Tchaikovsky but with more of the whirling chromaticism of Ravel’s La valse. Much of the movement is lightly orchestrated with solos passed off from one instrument, or section, to another in mid-phrase. It never settles on a key, creating a more uneasy rather than festive quality to the dance. As the waltz approaches the end, the tempo becomes increasingly erratic, ending with a frantic coda.

Following a slow introduction, the dark final dance, marked Allegro assai, combines the syncopated rhythm of the Vespers theme with dance-like allusions to the Dies irae plainchant melody – Rachmaninov’s signature theme from the Roman Catholic Mass for the Dead. In fact, throughout this dance, Rachmaninov plays a clever game with the listener, never quoting exactly either the Vespers theme nor the chant melody, but rather, insinuating ever more obvious hints of them into the fabric of the dance. Like the first dance, this one has a contrasting middle section in which the tempo slows considerably, focusing on the strings, especially the cellos and violas. When the initial tempo resumes, the solo trumpet begins hinting more broadly at the Dies irae; finally, near the end, Rachmaninov states it openly as part of the climax to the movement with the full battery of percussion instruments in attendance. Now the character and meaning of the entire movement is revealed as a dance of death.

Program notes by:
Joseph & Elizabeth Kahn
Wordpros@mindspring.com
www.wordprosmusic.com