Rachmaninov: Piano Sonata N° 2, Variations

Mikkola, Laura

AECD 0534

Sergei Rachmaninoff's fame as one of the greatest pianists of all time always outweighed his importance as a composer in the judgment of music history. He has repeatedly been accused of not having been able to free himself from the piano in his orchestral music. His style, which was clearly oriented towards the past, rarely allowed him to outgrow his role models, especially in terms of musical form; Rachmaninoff undoubtedly ranks behind his fellow countrymen and generation-mates Scriabin and Stravinsky in terms of the modernity of his music, whose music pointed far more strongly into the future. Rachmaninoff himself, however, used to counter such arguments by pointing out that, for him, the most important thing was the sincerity of the feelings expressed in his music. In the foreground of his work were no intellectual considerations, and so Rachmaninoff did not participate in the departure into New Music, which marked the beginning of the 20th century. Revolutionary tendencies were as alien to his aristocratic nature as they were insensitive intellects. In an artistic emigration, Rachmaninoff continued to shape his own poetic universe in the midst of a world experimenting with atonality and twelve-tone technique just as unflinchingly as he had turned away from his Russian homeland after the October Revolution and chosen the freedom of American exile.

CD

Muzyka klasyczna

Aeon

12-04-2010

3760058365342

ResMusica: 'Clef ResMusica'