Suite No. 2 for two pianos

Program Note:

Among the notable emigrés living in southern California in 1942 was Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943), who had moved there for health reasons not long before his death. Rachmaninoff enjoyed an up-and-down career in his native Russia prior to the 1917 Revolution. But with the rise of Bolshevism and the spread of war across Europe, Rachmaninoff had his inherited property confiscated and saw career options narrowing. At age 45 and with a family to support, he decided to seek his fortunes abroad as a concert pianist. He had been a prize-winning pianist in his youth (taking the Great Gold Medal at graduation from the Moscow Conservatory in 1892), but he had spent the next 25 years focusing entirely on composition and conducting. Rachmaninoff settled in America in 1918 and performed hundreds of recitals over the final 25 years of his life. All but six of his published 45 compositions were completed before leaving Russia. These Russian works include the Suite No. 2 for Two Pianos, Op. 17 (1901).
This suite is one of the best, if lesser-known scores, of a recognized master of piano composition. Given the astounding success of the companion Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 18, written contemporaneously, the suite deserves a closer look. Rachmaninoff wrote both after emerging from a serious creative block following the disastrous premiere of his Symphony No. 1 (1896). It ultimately took psychiatric treatment involving hypnotherapy and positive reinforcement with a musically inclined physician, Dr. Nikolai Dahl, to bring him out of his stupor. The resulting works show a composer at the height of his powers.
The Suite No. 2 contains four movements; we will hear three tonight. Each shows aspects that have made Rachmaninoff’s reputation with both performers and audiences: tender melodies and rich harmonization. But above all, in my opinion, Rachmaninoff is not given enough credit for the drama he creates from rhythm and texture. Without the impulse of forward momentum, his sweeping melodies would ultimately seem stale. His music is filled with sound—massive sounds, full chords—spanning the full keyboard in bell-like fashion.

(c) Jason Stell