Sergei Rachmaninov's Symphony No. 2 in E minor op. 27, played by the WDR Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Cristian Măcelaru. Recorded live on 03.09.2022 at the Kölner Philharmonie.
Sergei Rachmaninov - Symphony No. 2 in E minor op. 27
00:00:00 I. Largo - Allegro moderato
00:23:05 II. Allegro molto
00:32:55 III. Adagio
00:48:03 IV. Allegro vivace
WDR Symphony Orchestra
Cristian Măcelaru, conductor
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Gushy and lush - these are the terms most often used to characterise Sergei Rachmaninoff's Second Symphony. Its sound is even described as "luxurious". On the one hand, this is entirely true; on the other, it hardly captures the essence of this work. The splendour of the sound is by no means an end in itself; it is rather a consequence of Rachmaninoff's finely worked out, even sophisticated compositional technique. In this symphony, his tonal language is a multifaceted mesh of overlapping, mutually interacting vocal progressions. What seems complicated in this description - it is. But it is Rachmaninoff's speciality that this does not push itself to the fore when listening. His Second is full of vibrant intensity, right down to the smallest motifs and the most intimate passage. And it is precisely in the combination of this emotionality with his masterly craftsmanship that Rachmaninoff's special quality lies. Rachmaninoff wrote his Second Symphony in Dresden. Together with his family, he spent several years in the Saxon royal city each winter from 1906 onwards. Here he enjoyed the culture, especially the qualities of the Staatskapelle and the Semper Opera. As with Dvořák's Violin Concerto, it took quite a long time for Rachmaninov's Second to finally see the light of day. In this case, however, the reason was not external circumstances, but lay solely in Rachmaninoff. He had an excruciatingly difficult time with the composition - a consequence of the fiasco he had experienced ten years earlier at the premiere of his First. As a result of this failure, he suffered from depression for years. And so he honed his Opus 27 for almost two years, certainly not by chance far from home, almost in secret. When, through the indiscretion of a friend, the press got wind of it, it was a complete nuisance to him. Especially as he was not satisfied with the composition for a long time. When he wanted to write it out, it became, according to Rachmaninoff, "terribly long-winded and repulsive to me". The music of the Second spans impressive epic arcs even in the final version. A listening pleasure of rare greatness.
Text: Otto Hagedorn