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Sviatoslav Richter

The Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 1

State Radio Orchestra of the USSR/ Kurt Sanderling, Conductor

In presenting Rachmaninoff and Saint-Saens on one disc certain similarities come to mind. Both composers were piano virtuosi who used their own compositions, particularly their piano concerti, to further their careers. It is not surprising, therefore, that the piano writing is brilliant and exacting. Even the period of time when these two concerti were written is not too disparate: the Rachmaninoff First Concerto, although extensively revised later, was first sketched in 1890 and the Saint- Saens Fifth Piano Concerto was written in 1896.

The popularity of Rachmaninoff's music is, today, greater than ever. The universality of his melodies and the glittering brilliance of his piano writing appeal to all tastes. Basically it is music of the 19th century writ- ten in the tradition of Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov and Rubinstein. Where Saint-Saens has a pretty melody, Rachmaninoff has a broad sensual one; where Saint- Saens has an orchestral climax developing nicely, Rachmaninoff has a deluge, a torrent of emotional out- bursts. Some will prefer the niceties of the former, others the more obvious emotionalism of the latter.

Rachmaninoff, in discussing some of his works with Alfred Swan, said: “I have rewritten my First Concerto; it is really good now. All the youthful freshness is there, and yet it plays so much more easily. And nobody pays any attention. When I tell them in America that I will

play the First Concerto, they do not protest, but £ can see by their faces that they would prefer the Second or Third.” *

The First Concerto is, indeed, a very happy amaig::. It combines the youthful zest and melodic gift with th maturity and skill which Rachmaninoff later developed. The Concerto was begun in 1890 and very extensively revised in 1917. In fact because of the reworking the Concerto should actually occupy a place among Rach- maninoff’s compositions somewhere between the Third and Fourth Concerti. It is in the 1917 revision that we now know it. The work was published in the present form. in 1921 and is dedicated to Alexander Siloti.

In the first movement, the melodic and scherzo motifs culminate in a grand solo cadenza for the piano. The cadenza is rhapsodic and heroic by turns and proceeds to the coda. The slow movement is meditative. poetic and sonorous in the uninhibited Rachmaninoff style. The finale is a brilliant movement full of shifting meters, relieved by a brief middle section (Andante) which then surges forward to a powerful climax ending the Concerto. The playing time of the Concerto is 2614 minutes.

“Sergei Rachmaninoff: A Lifetime in Music by Bertensson, Scrgci,

and Jay Leyda. New York University Press. 1956. $6.50.

The Saint-Saens Piano Concerto No. 5 “The Egyptian” Moscow Youth Orchestra/Kiril Kondrashin, Conductor

In the second half of the 19th century opera was, in general, solidly entrenched with both the public and composers in France — with the ‘“Wagnerian wave” threatening to engulf both. In 1871 Saint-Saens founded, with Romain' Bussine, the Societé Nationale de Musique whose purpose was to produce new works of the French School. Along with Franck, Fauré and d’Indy, he helped

‘to stem the tide of Germanic and operatic music. By creating excellent instrumental and vocal music, these composers, together with Lalo, Chausson and Chabrier, established the French School on a firm footing and pre- pared the way for Debussy and Ravel.

Romain Rolland has said of Saint-Saens: “He has had the rare honor of becoming a classic during his life- time.” And Debussy, who was not always kind to him wrote of Saint-Saens that. ...*Whilst others are uncom- promising in order to demolish everything, he is so only in order to preserve everything. His masters bequeathed to him formulas which he considers good, and the respect he holds them in prevents him from wishing to make any change in them. I do not think he should be blamed for this. I see in it evidence of an artistic clairvoyance which is rare enough in our day when

— many things change their name without achieving any other appreciable result... .”

Saint-Saens from earliest childhood displayed a great fondness for music as weli as an excellent musical mem- ory and an accurate sense of pitch. He made his solo

piano debut at the age of eleven. (About six years previously he had played one of the Beethoven violin

and piano sonatas with a Belgian violinist!) In addition to piano he studied harmony, organ and, later, compo-

sition. During his studies at the Paris Conservatory he

met Liszt whose music influenced him greatly.

By 1896 Saint-Saens was a youthful 61 and had been

regarded as a piano virtuoso and outstanding composer

for about thirty-five years. That year he premiered the

Fifth Piano Concerto in Paris, playing the solo part

himself, at a special concert commemorating the 50th

anniversary of his debut. The Concerto is in three move:

ments (Allegro animato, Andante, Molto allegro). The

middle movement is a rhapsodic “Andante,” reportedly

influenced by the composer’s journey to Egypt and it is certainly one of Saint-Saens’ most effective creations. The outer movements abound in the octaves and deli- cate runs characteristic of his piano writing and the

Concerto ends in a furious flurry of double octaves. The

playing time of the Concerto is 28 minutes.

SVIATOSLAV RICHTER

Sviatoslav Richter was born in' Zhitomir, the Ukraine, in 1915. He studied with his father, a pianist and organist, and then with Henri Neuhaus at the Moscow Conservatory. In 1945 he won first prize in the Third All-Union Contest for instrumentalists in the U.S.S.R. He began concertizing shortly before World War 1I and currently appears in solo recitals and as soloist in concerti in Russia and abroad.

THE GREAT SVIATOSLAV RICHTER

ON MONITOR RECORDS

MC 2002 BACH PIANO CONCERTO No. 1 in D Minor

State Orch. of the USSR, Sanderling, cond,

MC 2034 TCHAIKOVSKY Sonata in G Major, Op. 37

“Grand Sonata”

PROKOFIEV Sonata No. 9 in C Major, Op. 103

MC 2020 MUSSORGSKY The Nursery; Dorlyak, soprano

MC 2021 PROKOFIEV CELLO SONATA, Op. 119 Rostropovich, cello

MC 2022 SCHUMANN HUMORESQUE, Op. 20

FRANCK PRELUDE, CHORALE AND FUGUE

MC 2026 SCHUMANN PIANO CONCERTO in A Minor,

Op. 54 State Radio Orch., Gauk cond.

FANTASIESTUCKE, Op. 12 (Nos. 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8) ì ì ì

I

\MC 2027 SCHUBERT SONATA in A Minor for Piano, Op. 42 IMPROMPTUS Op. 90, No. 2 and Op. 142, No. 2

MC 2036 FRANCK PIANO QUINTET in F Minor

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For complete catalogue write:

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This recording was processed from the original master tapes by arrangement with Leeds Music Corporation, N. Y.

For the care of your records check needle periodically; store away from heat; wibe with a damp cloth before playing. For playback on wide-range equipment use RIAA curve. | ;

Cover Design: David Chasman

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IMONITOr high fidelity recordings

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