Symphonic Dances, Op. 45
Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)

THE STORY

Performing on the stage hampered Rachmaninoff’s later career as a composer, even if he regarded composing “one of the necessary functions of living.” The mild reception of three large-scale works (Variations on a Theme by Corelli, Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini for piano and orchestra, and Symphony No. 3) in the 1930s did little to dissuade him from returning to composition in August of 1940, when respite at Orchard Point, the summer estate near Huntington, Long Island, afforded sufficient seclusion to pen the Symphonic Dances—his last major work.

The march, waltz, and quasi-Danse macabre qualities of the three movements eschew flashy dance steps popular on the 1930s jazz scene and instead align closely to the belated Romantic symphonic style. A rich variety of timbres in the orchestration and melancholic lyricism in the strings reminisce of a bygone era. Orchestrating the work at a rapid pace before the coming concert season, Rachmaninoff dedicated his Symphonic Dances to Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra months before its premiere in January 1941.

LISTEN FOR

• Nimble staccatos that introduce the first dance’s stamping yet moderate march-like rhythm
• The middle section’s doleful alto saxophone, a new instrument for Rachmaninoff—Broadway composer Robert Russell Bennett advised him on which saxophone best suited the work
• The little bells that accompany the strings’ quotation of Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 1 at the end of the first dance—whereas the troubled debut of his first symphony in 1897 shattered Rachmaninoff’s confidence as a composer for a time, the theme’s major-key reappearance in the Symphonic Dances four decades later seems to heal that once debilitating memory
• Dark shadows cast by muted brass over the valse triste, while various orchestra members whirl about over the oom-pa-pa dance rhythms
• The Dies irae motif in the sprightly final movement, a tribute to Eastern Orthodox liturgy from Rachmaninoff’s native country

INSTRUMENTATION

Two flutes, piccolo, two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, alto saxophone, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, piano, harp, strings

© Joanna Chang