Rachmaninov - Symphony 2 [Rattle-Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra]On listening to Rachmaninov's Second today, i must admit i find his swooning romanticism a bit sugary and overdone, he was unashamedly in for the big tunes that tug at your heart [think of the middle movement of his Second Piano Concerto], and yet is there a real sophistication here?, it all sounds really smooth, there's no individual or odd instruments piping up out of nowhere, to add spice to the work, it all seems to be sieved out by Rachmaninov, in favour of an uninterrupted glorious 'big' tune, and yet i was moved by this Symphony today.
Simon Rattle is now 55, with white frizzy hair, here he is in his younger days with darker hair [on the booklet cover], this disc was recorded in 1984 i believe, when Simon was 29, the Los Angeles Philharmonic seem strange bedfellows in a way, he was guest Conductor from 1981-1994, maybe he was being groomed for their post as Main Conductor, until the Berlin Philharmonic waltzed in.
On this listen, i was again really swooned by the third movement Adagio, it starts off with sweet and sugary strings, and this is the emphasis of the whole movement, on these syrupy violins, the part which really catches my ear, and for which this movement is probably famous, is the long clarinet solo [0:33-0:40], it's really quite long [over 2 minutes], considering it's not a Clarinet Concerto, and the clarinet makes such a gorgeous and beautiful tune, perfectly situated early on in the movement, it sets the whole tone for what's to come, there's moments of sheer pathos, like in the 'love theme' main tune [3:34+], but it's just before that, there's this lovely phrase [3:20], like a break / crack in the voice as it hits an emotional sob, i love how Rachmaninov does that, then comes the cor anglais and oboe in a duet [4:45-5:52], plangent and pleading, the music builds up to swooning heights [6:42+], until it hits it's glorious theme of 'love' [7;38+], notice a few seconds before that it's introduced by a triumphant trumpet [7:35], the second half of the movement carries on like the first, later the tune gets sweeter and more powerful [12:04+], and again there's this bittersweet phrase [12:35], and the music turns full forte into a glorious song of 'love' [12:49], afterward the very high and sweet violins are coda like [14:09+], and again Rachmaninov digs another tender phrase out of the bag [14:33], like a farewell goodbye, i always feel a real heart tugging of emotions when i hear this movement, it's beautiful.
Here's Andre Previn conducting the third movement on YouTube.
