March 31, 2023 | Rachmaninoff Concert Hall («Philharmonia-2»)
“Thing-In-Itself” – concert-lecture
Author and director – Yaroslav Timofeyev
Conductor – Vladimir Spivakov
Rachmaninoff. “Symphonic Dances”, Op. 45
Any real masterwork is the thing-in-itself, that is a multilayer, mysterious and infinite creation. In each concert-lecture of the “Thing-In-Itself” series, its author and director, musicologist-lecturer Yaroslav Timofeyev tries to find the keys to one of the masterpieces of the past century by showing the inner structure of the opus, after which the score is played by a first-class orchestra under the baton of an eminent conductor. The seventh concert of the series is devoted to a masterwork by Sergei Rachmaninoff, great Russian composer whose 150th birthday anniversary is being celebrated all over the world.
The National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia will perform the Symphonic Dances by Rachmaninoff. The rendition of the immortal triptych will be presented by the NPR's artistic director Vladimir Spivakov, who calls it a “spiritual will” of the composer.
This is the last composition by the Russian great genius, which he considered himself to be the best and the dearest to his heart. It was written in emigration, but the composer never lost his spiritual connection with his Motherland. It is quite astonishing though that the essentially-Russian-in-tone theme in the second movement was given to saxophone (it is a kind of convergence in music). The Symphonic Dances end by a tom tom beat, marked by a fermata sign in the score, which means a prolonged sound. In the West, however, it is often omitted for its meaning is elusive. I do think that it implies a fleeting soul.
It is a one-part concert.