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Music Lane It's all about the music, dude! Sit down, relax and listen to some tunes. |
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Music Lane It's all about the music, dude! Sit down, relax and listen to some tunes. |
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In Reply to: Rach 2 posted by docw on October 28, 2014 at 11:29:10:
Like any great symphony, the music will carry the orchestra to heights that will please the audience.
That said, Rachmaninoff's music is not easy going for the orchrestra. It sounds so good in recordings and with great orchestras, with smoothly beautiful slow movements and compelling melodies carrying the excitement of the faster movements. It's the sweeping melodies that audiences love.
But the section parts are often very challenging. There behind the wonderful melodies, musicians can struggle. A flautist friend who has played for several very good orchestras once told me that the flute parts in Rachmaninoff symphonies, especially the 1st and 2nd, require a lot of practice for professionals and can be really difficult for inexperienced musicians.
The 2nd is a great symphony. The orchestra will love playing it, because it is challenging, but also because it is such a finely crafted work. And the audience will love it, because of the great melodies and excitement Rachmaninoff composed.
As for recordings, well, they are all over the map. One common practice that you encounter with recordings and live performances is that a lot of them do not actually adhere very well to the score. Rachmaninoff was meticulous and very specific with a lot of his markings. For example, a lot of recordings and performances, they add a big whack of tympani at the end of the first movement. Rachmaninoff did not write that in the score. I'm not sure who inserted it to begin with, but it is now pretty common. And second, if the orchestra is taking all the exposition repeats, it is imperative to keep the tempo up, as Rachmaninoff intended, because otherwise it drags. That can really compromise the final movement.
If you are looking to buy a recording, there are many to choose from. I have some personal favorites, but I'm an old guy and have more than 60 recordings of this symphony in my collection. I like analog, and cuts don't really bother me that much. So my personal favorites don't necessarily coincide with my recommendations for others.
For the best balance of performance and audio quality, I'd suggest the recording by Fischer with the Budapest Festival Orchestra. The audio is good SACD. The performance is very good.
"Life without music is a mistake" (Nietzsche)
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Follow Ups
- RE: Rach 2 - Amphissa 18:54:06 10/29/14 (2)
- RE: Rach 2 - docw 13:54:05 10/30/14 (0)
- RE: Rach 2 - Chris from Lafayette 23:58:19 10/29/14 (0)
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