Symphonic Dances

SERGEI RACHMANINOFF dedicated his Symphonic Dances to Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Philharmonic, his favourite performers. The original version of the work was for two pianos; it was later orchestrated, giving the music more drama and texture. The rhythmic intensity justifies the title of the piece, although it is not a typical dance style. There is an interpretation of the work as a reckoning of the author's life story, a reflection of his view of the world shaped by the experience of alternating 'losses' in his life - the loss of the family fortune by his father, despite his noble background, the loss of his homeland, irretrievably left in 1917, etc. Symphonic Dances is Rachmaninoff's last composition - written in 1940 - and is considered to be his best. Apart from the composer's personal pain, it also expresses the anxiety of the beginning of the Second World War. But his personal narrative does not oscillate between the categories of "loss and new beginnings". It is no coincidence that Rachmaninoff takes his place as an artist belonging to world culture, as a pianist of genius, a composer of distinction and a conductor. This work recalls (in its first movement) some themes from his Symphony No. 1, published in 1895 and performed by Glazunov with little success. The first movement is energetic and meditative. It features a very specific musical image of his and a strong Orthodox symbol in Eastern European music - the sound of bells. In the lyrical middle section, Rachmaninoff introduces the alto saxophone, an atypical instrument for his time but taken from the Prokofiev tradition. The second movement is a waltz with a sinister sound, in the minor key, suggesting the idea of "demonic fun" or dark paintings in "an old castle from the time of Dracula". Comparisons with French music are perhaps inevitable, especially with Ravel's Waltz, written some 20 years earlier. The third part is the focal point of the entire work. It restores the dynamics of the first movement, followed by moments of reflection (lento assai); it revolves around several melodic ideas. But the climax of the movement is the holding of the Dies Irae motif, which gives meaning to the whole composition. The introduction of the medieval sequence, which preceded it in Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique, is probably linked by the composer to the thought of his own demise, after reflecting on his personal spiritual and mental struggles, after demonstrating the 'themes of his life'. It is no coincidence that the Orthodox hymn "Blessed art thou, O Lord", used in 1915 in his liturgy "All-Night Vigil" to express the value and exaltation of life over death, is then heard. Later, at the end of the manuscript score, Rachmaninoff inscribed "Thank you, Lord", symbolising the act of praising the Lord before death.