RACHMANINOFF: "Symphonic Dances"-"Vocalize" (DALLAS SO./D. Johanos, Athena ALSW-10001(LP), Analogue Productions APCD (006), vinyl preferred)
In this album, we have a true rare offer, 2 of Rachmaninoff's most favorite works, a great conductor at the peak of his career, an amazing recording, the best I have ever heard on a classical work and believe me I have heard a lot, and last but not least, an excellent interpretation of these 2 works by D. Johanos.
The Symphonic dances, op.45, mark a beginning and an end for Rachmaninoff. The work was his first in the States and his last as composer and bears a strong resemblance to the 2 works which proceeded it, the 3rd Symphony and the Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini nontheless R. introduces several innovations in this work like the introduction of a saxophone in the first movement marked non allegro, a rare sound in symphonic scoring. Although these works represent the last spark of the composer, he manages to combine an unprecedented freshness along with his artistic perfection. The work was dedicated to Eucene Ormandy who conducted the first performance with the Philadelphia Orchestra on January 4th, 1941.
Vocalize op.34, No 14, was dedicated to the beautiful and gifted coloratura Soprano Automina Neshdanova (born in Odessa 1875), member of the Moscow Grand Opera. The work itself is a beautiful and gifted like Automina, a worldless melody for voice and Piano. It was published in 1912 as part of a collection of 14 songs in opus 34. A few years later, Sergey Koussevitsky, heard the song and realized that it would make a beautiful orchestral transcription. The result was the present version, in which the first violin sing the vocal line, a loving and haunting melody with just the right amount of nostalgia and melancholy.
The DALLAS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA under the direction of D. Johanos turned out to be a superb ensemble, equal in many ways to the finest on the Eastern Seabord. "I should say that I know of no American-born conductor, and of a few foreign-born, who are his superior" (Winthrop Sargeant, in THE NEW YORKER.). Need we say more about this great album?.
Κυρ Ιουλ 05, 2009 9:44 pm
