[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re[3]: Rachmaninoff?
Dear Mark:
You misspelled "virtuosity."
Love,
Mark
______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re[2]: Rachmaninoff?
Author: "Mark Williamson" <mwilliamson@alston.com> at internet
Date: 5/7/97 1:57 PM
I have been following this Rachmaninoff discussion with some
interest. I have very mixed feelings about Mr. R. As a
general rule, romanticism is just not what interests me. I
have tremendous respect for the craftsmanship
(craftspersonship?) of many romantic composers, including
Chopin, Brahms, Schumann, and others, but it just doesn't
stoke my fire. We're all different, and we all have
different tastes, and that is just not what interests me.
But I have to say I have some respect for Mr. R. I can see
the point that many of you have made about his apparent
commercialism: there are certainly many lush orchestrations
and hummable melodic lines that support that thesis. And
there is certainly a lot of emphasis on technical
virtuousity: not surprising given his own accomplishments
as a performer.
But I think there is still some serious merit there. His
music is very well organized; that's something that's
missing from a lot of romantic music. (Brahms is the
obvious exception with his love of classical forms; there
are others like Chopin who simply deal with this problem by
avoiding large-scale works in favor of miniatures.) I think
Mr. R does a better job of holding together a large-scale
work than many of the romantic composers, particularly the
ones that lived earlier than he did.
I think the variations on the Paganini theme hold together
very well.
But on the other hand I am not in complete disagreement with
what many of you have said . . .
Mark
______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re: Rachmaninoff?
Author: Alun Severn <alun@ukiah.demon.co.uk> at internet
Date: 5/6/97 10:54 PM
Greg (not me) said:
> I can't stand Rachmaninoff and I never could. IMHO, Rachmaninoff is
>a crowd-pleaser who was born about 50 years too late.
I just want to add: YEEESSSS!
Best, Alun
_________________________________________________________________________
The P H O E N I X P A R T N E R S H I P
public and voluntary sector research, development and project management
_________________________________________________________________________
Alun Severn & Terry Potter ALUN SEVERN
1 Chestnut Road Oldbury B68 0AX
Tel/Fax: 0121 421 5852
email: alun@ukiah.demon.co.uk
_________________________________________________________________________
An age is always a farrago of different ages. Whole parts of it are
unleavened and undercooked; it contains the husks of old forces, and
the seeds of new ones. - Alfred Doblin, 1924
_________________________________________________________________________