Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)
Études-Tableaux, Op. 33 (1911)
Nikolai Lugansky, 2022
Perm Philharmonic
[0:00] Allegro non troppo in F minor - No. 1
[3:23] Allegro con fuoco in E♭ major - No. 6 (published as No. 4; originally No. 7)
[5:23] Moderato in G minor - No. 7 (No. 5; No. 8)
[9:35] Grave in C♯ minor - No. 8 (No. 6; No. 9)
“The cycle opens with Étude-tableau in F minor that presents us the austere and ascetic world of medieval Russia. Accompanied by a march-like rhythm the choral - the Znammenny chant - sounds relentless, suggesting the vision of a Christian Orthodox army, setting out to confront its enemy in the battlefield. At the end of the study when the host passes from view the panorama of immobile, dormant and surrealistic Russia of Blok's verse unfolds itself:
You are unusual even sleeping
I should not touch your robe at all
There’s mystery beyond my dreaming
And in that mystery you dwell
Only in the middle and at the end of the piece, one can hear the sobs and wails of a woman foreboding that the warriors will never come back alive.
…
Étude-tableau in E flat major is characterized by the author as a scene of a fair. Brimming merriment, joyous peal of bells, form an image which is not to be found in Rachmaninov's later works. In the middle of the piece we hear buffoons giving their merry performance in the square. Their motive merges with the loud peal of bells in the dazzling culmination of the recapitulation.
Étude-tableau in G minor casts a gloom, bringing to one's mind Pushkin's lines about autumn:
O drear and cheerless time, you charm the eye and tender.
Contentment to the heart. How wondrous to behold
Your dying beauty is, the lush and sumptuous splendor
Of nature's farewell bloom, the forests clad in gold...
The drooping melodies seem to be sad remembrances of the past and even the sudden gusts of cold wind (in the middle of the piece) can't dispel the mood of sweet sadness.
Étude-tableau in C sharp minor comes last in the cycle. In it one hears an alarm bell portending dire events, and the sinister whirlwinds of Dante's Inferno. Symbolic motives that flash like remote lightnings, the quickening pulsating rhythm, the impetuous sound texture everything bespeaks the coming disaster. The perturbed Russia races headlong towards destruction and nothing can check her terrible progress.”
Lugansky, 1992
29 июн 2024
