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We suggest works to explore after Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances
Premiered shortly after the orchestral version, Rachmaninov’s own two-piano version of his Symphonic Dances thrills as much as the original, with many of the composer’s harmonic subtleties shining anew. Our recommended recording features two pianists who understand how to eke out the composer’s rich orchestral textures. (Vladimir Ashkenazy, André Previn (pianos) Decca 444 8452).
Much like Rachmaninov’s, Hindemith’s Symphonic Dances were the victim of a cancelled ballet project, this time spearheaded by choreographer Léonide Massine. Hindemith, however, made hay and turned his rejected score into the Symphonische Tänze. With more emphasis on its symphonic nature than its dance characters, the work contains some of Hindemith’s most substantial and colourful music, particularly in the manic Scherzo with its demonic trumpet figurations, rumbling brass and skittering woodwind. (BBC Philharmonic/yan-pascal Tortelier Chandos CHAN9530)
Ravel’s collection of Valses nobles et sentimentales first appeared in its original piano solo version in 1911, but the composer had completed an orchestral arrangement by 1912. Such was Ravel’s mastery of orchestration that the piece emerged in an entirely new skin, and arguably better for it. The joyful opening waltz fizzes with added percussion while the second’s theme seduces with its sultry flute and plangent oboe. (Cleveland Orchestra/pierre Boulez DG 449 2132).
For a work that also draws on the ominous tones of the Gregorian ‘Dies irae’, give Khachaturian’s Symphony No. 2 a spin – nicknamed ‘The Bell’, the work’s funereal third movement is its heart and soul. The ‘Dies irae’ theme dominates, initially floating gently above the rumbling textures before exploding in full force. Terrifying, and terrific. (Vienna Philharmonic/aram Khachaturian
Decca 425 6192)
Finally, a step back to 1920s England. Though Holst’s opera The Perfect Fool flopped, he resurrected some of it in the form of a suite. Lavishly orchestrated, its three dance-themed movements pack the same feistiness, spirit and energy as Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances. (BBC NOW/ Richard Hickox Chandos CHSA 5069).
Hindemith made hay and turned his rejected score into Symphonische Tänze