Dances for Two Pianos Music by Rachmaninov and Ravel

Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943)Rachmaninov was a true master musi-

cian. Arguably the finest pianist of his dayand renowned also as a conductor, he was,as a composer, one of the most prominentfigures of Russian late Romanticism. Perhapsmore than any other composer of his time,Rachmaninov’s creative life was directlyaffected by the tumultuous era in which helived. As a student in Russia at the end of the19th-century he was one of the most brilliantgraduates of the Moscow Conservatory.Within a year of his graduation, his firstopera was produced at the Bolshoi and bythe age of 19 his Prelude in C sharp Minormade his name world famous. He played aleading role in the artistic ferment in Russiaand Europe in the first decade of this century.He came to the United States in 1918, virtu-ally abandoned composing and conductingand for the remaining 25 years of his life pur-sued a career as a touring pianist and record-ing artist.

Rachmaninov composed four sympho-nies during his lifetime, though The Bells, a symphony for chorus and orchestra basedon the poem by Edgar Allan Poe, bears no number. The First Symphony, written in 1895,had an unsuccessful performance in St. Petersburg. It brought rebuke from critics andfriends alike, and César Cui, one of the famous Russian “Five”, remarked caustically that“if there was a Conservatory in Hell, Rachmaninov would gain the first prize for this

Sergei Rachmaninov

– 2 –

symphony.” The composer was also dissatis-fied and discouraged. Rachmaninov hadalready won considerable renown as apianist, and although Tchaikovsky hadpraised his opera Aleko, and then hadarranged for its première, Rachmaninov, nev-ertheless, resolved to abandon compositionentirely. A considerable amount of persua-sion by his friend Count Tolstoy, somelessons in self-assertion by a psychologistand his marriage to Natalie Satin helped theyoung man to overcome his inferiority com-plex. He returned to his musical life withrenewed vigor and confidence. The resulting“come back” works were his Suite No.2 forTwo Pianos, Opus 17 and the world famous,Piano Concerto No.2 in C Minor, Opus 18.By 1906, when he was thirty-three,Rachmaninov’s music and social activitieshad reached a high pitch. For the past yearhe had been conductor of the ImperialGrand Opera in Moscow, besides makingfrequent concert appearances as pianist.Then, for the next two years, Rachmaninov,together with his wife and baby daughter, lived in virtual seclusion in Dresden, occupy-ing a little house with a garden. There he composed three important works: The Isle of theDead, the Piano Sonata, Opus 28, and the Second Symphony. That same year, 1909, hecomposed his great Piano Concerto No.3 in D Minor, Opus 30. Although he wrote solopiano works intermittently during the next eight years, he did not write another orchestralwork until 1926. His Symphony No.3 in A Minor, Opus 44 was completed in 1936 andrevised two years later. In 1940 he wrote his last orchestral masterpiece — the SymphonicDances, Opus 45.

Sergei Rachmaninov’s two Suites for Two Pianos were both relatively early works. The

– 3 –

Sergei Rachmaninov

Suite No.1, Opus 5 dates from the summer of 1893, when the composer was only twen-ty. Whereas Suite No.2, Opus 17 was completed in 1901. A few years before composinghis second suite, Rachmaninov suffered a nervous collapse which lasted an alarmingnumber of months. His family persuaded him to seek treatment from a Dr. Nikolai Dahl.According to Rachmaninov, “My relatives had told Dr. Dahl that he must at all costs cureme of my apathetic condition and achieve such results that I would again begin to com-pose.” A hypnotic suggestion was repeated to Rachmaninov in Dr. Dahl’s study day afterday — “You will begin to write your Concerto... You will work with great facility... TheConcerto will be of an excellent quality...” By the succeeding autumn, two movements ofRachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.2 and a sketch of the suite, Opus 17, were finished.The joy of creating also resulted in a cantata, a number of songs, piano preludes and thecello sonata. The second movement of the suite is a coruscating, irresistible, forward mov-ing Waltz with a Slavic accent. The impetuous, flying character of this music ends withclosing bars that conjure up the jingle of bells on a troika galloping away.

Rachmaninov began his Symphonic Dances early in the summer of 1940, whilespending his vacation in Huntington, Long Island. He finished the score late the follow-ing October. He prepared a version for two pianos before completing the orchestral scor-ing. It was Rachmaninov’s first intention to call the three respective movements Midday,Twilight, and Midnight. He changed his mind when he began to fear that the titles mightmislead listeners as to the mood and content of the pieces. The Philadelphia Orchestra,under the direction of Eugene Ormandy, performed the Symphonic Dances for the firsttime in New York, on January 7, 1941. Rachmaninov stated that the work “should havebeen called just dances, but I was afraid people would think I had written music for jazzorchestras.” Although no definite program seemed to manifest itself, some listeners andcritics believed that the dances could possibly mirror a series of moods of nature. The firstsection has great rhythmic drive, with much of the energy derived from the openingmarch-like theme. The second movement is a concert waltz but with a strange atmos-phere, conjured up at the outset by somewhat sinister fanfare-like chords. In the thirddance, a Russian Orthodox chant and the Dies Irae, enter to form a somber and menac-ing contrast with the vigorous and brilliant rhythms.

– 4 –

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)In an interview published a few years

before his death in 1937, Maurice Ravelspoke about himself: “I am not a ‘moderncomposer’ in the strictest sense of the term,because my music, far from being ‘revolu-tion,’ is rather ‘evolution.’ Although I havealways been open-minded to new ideas inmusic I have never attempted in it to over-throw the accepted rules of harmony andcomposition. On the contrary, I have alwaysdrawn liberally from the masters for myinspiration (I have never ceased studyingMozart!), and my music, for the most part, isbuilt upon the traditions of the past and is anoutgrowth of it. I am not a ‘modern com-poser’ with a flair for writing radical har-monies and disjointed counterpoint becauseI have never been a slave to any one style ofcomposition. Nor have I ever allied myselfwith any particular school of music. I havealways felt that a composer should put onpaper what he feels and how he feels it —irrespective of what the current style of com-position may be. Great music, I have always felt, must always come from the heart. Anymusic created by technique and brains alone is not worth the paper it is written on.”

The composition of La Valse was prompted by a commission from Serge Diaghilev forhis Ballets Russes. The famous impresario wished to stage a work using Ravel’s music, ona subject which had occurred to him in 1906, and which he had entitled Wien(“Vienna”). When in 1919 the score was presented to Diaghilev, he did not like it orunderstand the work. Diaghilev claimed that he was deceived by Ravel, complaining thatRavel provided an excessively simple plot, utilizing just a simple waltz, which would notbe possible to expand choreographically, and despite a formal agreement between com-

– 5 –

Maurice Ravel

poser and the impresario, Diaghilev refused to accept Ravel’s La Valse. Ravel wasprofoundly wounded, and broke all relations with Diaghilev. An attempt by Diaghilev atreconciliation, some years later, almost ended in a duel!

Diaghilev had not understood how Ravel, while following in the path of Strauss andother Viennese composers of the 19th century, had nonetheless brought sonorities ofexceptional depth and grandeur into this “waltz.” Ravel, some time later wrote of thework: “I conceived this work as a sort of apotheosis of the Viennese Waltz, in which theimpression of a fantastic and fatal whirling went round in my head.” Indications at thebeginning of the score (intended for the choreographer) amplify his personal visions of thepiece: “At first the scene is dimmed by a kind of swirling mist, through which one discerns,vaguely and intermittently, the waltzing couples. Little by little the vapors disperse, theillumination grows brighter, revealing an immense ball-room filled with dancers; the blazeof the chandeliers comes to full splendor. An Imperial Court around 1855.”

La Valse was premiered, in its orchestral version, for the first time in Paris at the Théâtredu Châtelet, Concerts Lamoureux, conducted by Camille Chevillard, on December 12,1920. The score was published by Durand in 1921 and appeared in a solo piano versionand two-piano version arranged by Ravel. A version for piano 4-hands was also made byLucien Garban. Ravel played his two piano version at different occasions with pianistsAlfredo Casella and Marcelle Meyer. La Valse is basically developed from a single rhyth-mic nucleus. It commences pianissimo with a broken seventh chord of F-A flat-C-D. It isone of the seven motives that he evolves, takes apart, spins out, and transforms. The con-cept of the piece is basically dynamic. A crescendo, at first hesitant, then interrupted justbefore the peak, enters again and this time more energetically and irresistibly. The climaxis reached in a terrific whirlwind. When the work was finally choreographed by BronislavaNijinska in 1928, the elegant couple dancing were Ida Rubinstein and Anatol Wilzak. In1951, George Balanchine created another vision of La Valse and its “fatefully inescapablewhirlpool.”

— Marina and Victor Ledin ©1998

– 6 –

Earl Wild BiographyEarl Wild is a pianist in the grand Roman-

tic tradition. His legendary career, so distin-guished and long, has continued for over 70years. Born in 1915, in Pittsburgh, Earl Wild’stechnical accomplishments are often likenedto what those of Liszt himself must have had.Born with absolute pitch he started playing thepiano at three. Having studied with greatpianists such as Egon Petri, his lineage can betraced back to Scharwenka, Busoni, Ravel,d’Albert and Liszt himself.

Earl Wild’s career is dotted with musicallegends. As a young pianist he was soloistwith Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Sym-phony. Since then he has performed with vir-tually every major conductor and symphonyorchestra in the world. Rachmaninov was afriend and an important idol in his life. It’sbeen said of Earl Wild, “He’s the incarnationof Rachmaninov, Lehvinne and Rosenthal

rolled into one!” In 1986, after hearing him play three sold-out Carnegie Hall concertsdevoted to Liszt, honoring the centenary of that composer’s death, one critic said, “I findit impossible to believe that he played those millions of notes with 70-year-old fingers, sofresh-sounding and precise were they. Perhaps he has a worn-out set up in his attic, a laOscar Wilde’s Picture of Dorian Gray.”

He’s one of the few American pianists to have achieved international and domesticcelebrity. He has performed for six Presidents of the United States, and in 1939, was thefirst classical pianist to give a recital on the new medium of Television. At fourteen he wasperforming in the Pittsburgh Symphony with Otto Klemperer as well as working at radiostation KDKA playing major repertoire as well as his own compositions. As a virtuosopianist, composer, transcriber, conductor, editor and teacher, Mr. Wild continues in thestyle of the legendary great artists of the past.

– 7 –

Earl Wild photographed by Christian Steiner, 1971

This eminent pianist has built an extensive repertoire over the years, which includesboth the standard and modern literature. He has become world renown in particular forhis brilliant performances of the virtuoso Romantic works. In the 1930’s while working atNBC in New York, Mr. Wild along with Joseph Kahn performed Carnival of the Animalswith Toscanini and the NBC Symphony. In the early 1940’s, also with the NBC Symphony,he performed a concerto for two harpsichords and chorus with Yella Pessl.

Today at 83, Mr. Wild continues to record and perform concerts throughout the world.In 1997, he won a Grammy® Award for his disc, “The Romantic Master” — thirteen pianotranscriptions (nine of his own) on the Sony Classical label. When he was 79, he record-ed a well-received Beethoven disc which included the very difficult HammerklavierSonata, as well as a disc of the complete Rachmaninov Preludes. As an Ivory Classics™

artist, his immediate plans are to record three 20th century piano sonatas by well knowncomposers as well as a sonata of his own.

– 8 –

Christian Steiner photographed by Earl Wild, 1968 Earl Wild photographed by Christian Steiner, 1968

Christian Steiner BiographyChristian Steiner is not only bilingual (in

fluent German and English) but truly biprofes-sional as well, known throughout the musicworld as both portrait photographer andpianist — “an astonishingly good pianist,”according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer ’sRobert Finn, “with a deeply personal involve-ment,” and, in the words of the New YorkTimes, “today’s premiere photographer ofdivas and conductors,” who flock to his NewYork studio for publicity shots and CD covers.

He comes of a musical family in Berlin,Germany. His paternal grandfather insisted onmusical careers for each of his twelve chil-dren, and his father was actually born in achurch where the family lived rent-free inexchange for ringing the tower bells. Thissame father grew up to be principal violistwith the Berlin Opera Orchestra, and bothChristian’s older brothers found lifelongcareers in the string section of the Berlin Philharmonic, while among his aunts and unclesare numbered a professor of cello, an opera impresario, a conductor, a concertmaster andseveral piano teachers.

Christian himself at age 4 began to study the cello and then at four and a half the vio-lin. Finally “at the ripe old age of five I was taken to the piano,” he says. “That stuck.” Hisdaily practice was, he swears, overseen by his pet parakeet, Tristan, who used to peck hisfingers at every wrong note.

In his teens Steiner won several piano competitions in his native Germany, includingone that promised study in a foreign country. By that time he had attracted the attentionof the celebrated Chilean pianist Claudio Arrau, at whose urging he applied for and wona scholarship which entailed study with Frank Sheridan at the Mannes College in NewYork City. Here he made his formal debut, playing the Brahms D minor Piano Concerto.

– 9 –

Christian Steiner, self portrait, 1998

In his years as a pianist Steiner had always maintained a passionate interest in portraitphotography as well, and a friend suggested he combine his enthusiasm for both, with theresult that he is now among the world’s best-known photographers of musicians. Some ofhis clients have been Earl Wild, of course, as well as Leonard Bernstein, Maria Callas,Vladimir Horowitz, Luciano Pavarotti, Itzhak Perlman, Plácido Domingo, Alicia deLarrocha and Herbert von Karajan, not to mention the actress Lauren Bacall and the popstylist Lena Horne. In 1982 Vendôme published a book of his photographs, Opera People,and the same year he had his first one-man show in New York City.

These days he must sandwich his recital and concerto appearances between photog-raphy sessions. Among the former are recent dates in Berkeley, California, and Flint,Michigan, where he played Mozart concerti under Kent Nagano, and more Mozart inMéxico City under Enrique Diemecke His chamber music has lately been heard in Zurichwith members of the Berlin Philharmonic performing Schubert’s “Trout” Quintet, and inBerlin with his cellist brother Peter playing duo concerts.

Assuming a growing importance in his life is the musical directorship of a very suc-cessful summer series of chamber music called the Tannery Pond Concerts, all them per-formed in a Shaker school in New Lebanon, New York, in the Berkshire Mountains nearwhere he maintains a summer home. Here he not only engages artists and plans programsbut occasionally appears with performers on the series, among them Jessye Norman andCarol Vaness.

— Clair W. Van Ausdall

– 10 –

– 11 –

To be included on mailing list,or receive information on Ivory Classics™, contact:

Ivory Classics™

P.O. Box 341068 • Columbus, Ohio 43234-1068Phone: 1-888-40-IVORY • Fax: 614-761-9799

e-mail@ivoryclassics.com • Website: http://www.IvoryClassics.com

Credits

Recorded in London, April, 1968.

All tracks under license from Reader's Digest Music,A Division of the Reader's Digest Association, Inc.

Remastering Producer: Michael Rolland Davis

High Resolution Digital Remastering:Ed Thompson and Glenn Meadows at Masterfonics, Nashville

encoding provided by Doug Beard and Tom Jenny of Data CD, Inc.

Special thanks to Michael D. Palm Foundation

Liner Notes: Marina and Victor Ledin

Design: Communication Graphics

Inside Tray Photos: Ravel, 1933 and Rachmaninov, 1941

®

1998 Ivory Classics™ • All Rights Reserved.Ivory Classics™ • P.O. Box 341068

Columbus, Ohio 43234-1068 U.S.A. Phone: 1-888-40-IVORY • Fax: 614-761-9799

e-mail@ivoryclassics.com • Website: www.IvoryClassics.com

64405-70803STEREO

Remastering Producer: Michael Rolland Davis

High Resolution Digital Remastering:Ed Thompson & Glenn Meadows, Masterfonics, Nashville

All tracks under license from Reader’s Digest Music, A Division of The Reader’s Digest Association, Inc.

Sergei Rachmaninov: Waltz, from Suite No.2, Opus 17 Presto 6:56

Sergei Rachmaninov: Symphonic Dances, Opus 45 33:09I. Non allegro 10:50II. Andante con moto (tempo di Valse) 9:17III. Lento assai – Allegro vivace 13:02

Maurice Ravel: La Valse – poème choréographique Mouvement de Valse viennoise 11:59

1

2

3

4

5

®

DANCES FOR TWO PIANOSEARL WILD & CHRISTIAN STEINER

Music by Rachmaninov and Ravel

DANCES FOR TWO PIANOSEARL WILD & CHRISTIAN STEINER

Music by Rachmaninov and Ravel