Re[2]: Rachmaninoff?

["Mark Williamson" <mwilliamson@alston.com>]

     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
     
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