Sergei Rachmaninov wrote Vocalise for voice and piano,
not setting a text to it, unlike the other songs in the
Op. 34 set. It immediately became popular, and the
composer fashioned several transcriptions of the work,
including one for piano and another for orchestra. In a
sense, the orchestral version is the better of these
two, because its string-dominated scoring more
effectively captures the sustained sonorities of the
original. That said, Rachmaninov, a brilliant composer
of piano music and ...(+)
Sergei Rachmaninov wrote Vocalise for voice and piano,
not setting a text to it, unlike the other songs in the
Op. 34 set. It immediately became popular, and the
composer fashioned several transcriptions of the work,
including one for piano and another for orchestra. In a
sense, the orchestral version is the better of these
two, because its string-dominated scoring more
effectively captures the sustained sonorities of the
original. That said, Rachmaninov, a brilliant composer
of piano music and virtuoso pianist himself,
compensated for his instrument's non-sostenuto tone by
the scaling down textures and adding pedal runs and
other coloristic effects.
Heard in any of the versions, the main theme is lovely,
but here its long-breathed, soaring beauty and ecstatic
sense of melancholy come across with a more
straightforward and even simple expressive manner. Not
that the piano sonorities are scrawny or the textures
skeletal and inappropriate: indeed, the music takes
well to the tender, more intimate dressing Rachmaninov
deftly provides here. In the first half the music
remains gentle and flowing, but around the midpoint
turns intense and more passionate, developing a strong
sense of yearning, almost of anger. The main theme
returns in much the same intimate mood it appeared in
at the opening and closes out this lovely work.
SHEET MUSIC