# Of interest to Rachmaninoff fans out there...



## itywltmt (May 29, 2011)

I have just read a pair of articles in _La Presse _on a new *Analekta *release due out tomorrow (March 20th) featuring Scriabin's _Prometheus _and Rachmaninoff's _Fourth _concerto in its "original" 1926 version. The recording features pianist and broadcaster *Alain Lefèvre*, mentioned in January in my PTB post on André Mathieu, with the *Montreal Symphony under Kent Nagano.*

Mr. Lefèvre has a reputation (refer to his reconstruction of at least two of Mathieu's concertos) for reconstructing from manuscripts, and he was handed Rachmaninoff's manuscript from the 1926 version of the op. 40 concerto. (Note that Rachmaninoff has three "tries" at this concerto: 1926, 1928 and 1941, the final version being stripped of almost 8 minutes of music).

In the article, Lefèvre teases us by describing some of the recovered passages. The article (in French):
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/arts/musi...resse_B13b_musique-classique_486_section_POS1

We note there is at least one more recording of the 1926 version - by pianist *Alexander Ghindin* (on Ondine), but in his review, _La Presse's _*Claude Gingras* notes there are two more minutes of music in the Lefevre reconstruction, which appears to have followed Rachmaninoff more scrupulously than Ghindin's. Gingras praises the recording of the Rachmaninoff, and shows far less enthusiasm for the Scriabin...

Thought I'd pass this on...


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

I have Ghindin playing the Rachmaninoff, from a live performance (in England?). It is not exciting.


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## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

How does the original differ from the revised version?


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## Lenfer (Aug 15, 2011)

emiellucifuge said:


> How does the original differ from the revised version?


I would hope the revised version would have better audio quality. Thanks for posting *Itywltmt* I do not own the original so may buy the new release.


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## itywltmt (May 29, 2011)

emiellucifuge said:


> How does the original differ from the revised version?


Here's what the article says (my translation)

Almost 20 years went by between the third and fourth concertos. While living in the US, Rachmaninoff completes a first version of the concerto in 1926, and performs it with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Stokowski. Complete stupor: it is almost impossible to join the orchestral and solo parts!

Says Lefevre: "This is stitched together extremely tightly (_in French: C'est tricoté extrêmement serré entre le piano et l'orchestre_). Rachmaninoff cuts the original version significantly to create a second version which was just as difficult to put together in performance, and it was rarely performed. We have to wait until 1941 for a third and final version where he cuts more than 10 minutes from the score. The stricken sections are the most interesting, however they are of an astounding difficulty."

Starting from the opening crescendo: "This section covers *six pages *of the original score. By cutting it in half, Rachmaninoff amputated it of its principal idea. In the third movement, *he cuts 21 pages from the piano part*. Clearly, the 1926 version is substantially different from the well-known 1941 version. It's more of a thinking piece, requiring more complicity with the conductor (_in French: C'est une version plus intellectuelle, qui nécessite une grande connivence avec le chef.)_


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## Acervehes (Jun 5, 2012)

*Tres instructif*

besoin de verifier


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## itywltmt (May 29, 2011)

More on this recording in my _chronique du disque_ of April:
http://www.talkclassical.com/blogs/itywltmt/958-la-chronique-du-disque.html


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