# Rach's Isle of the Dead-spooky or cooky?



## Celloman

Rachmaninov's Isle of the Dead...is this piece cool or what? Never fails to haunt me each time I listen to it. There's this one place where the "Dies Irae" theme is played in 4 different speeds at the same time. Creepy!  
Any thoughts about this late Romantic symphonic poem?


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## Hexameron

I just heard this for the first time recently both through the orchestral version and this piano duo version (which I like even better). It sounds even darker in the lower registers of the piano and seems to float like a vessel bound for death. The Rach certainly treats the "Dies irae" theme with imaginative and dramatic touches. I notice how he never completes the entire "Dies irae" theme until the very end, preferring to stop the plainchant theme in mid-cadence. It creates a yearning for resolution and Rachmaninov definitely showcases his prowess with multivalent uses of a single theme like the "Dies irae."

So to answer the teaser question of this thread: Rach's Isle of the Dead is spooky and far from cooky.


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## johnnyx

Yes, cool and spooky. I have not heard the piano duo version, but will seek it out.
Have a look at the painting that inspired Rach:
http://www.stmoroky.com/reviews/gallery/bocklin/iotd.htm


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## Frederik Magle

I have only heard the orchestral version of Rachmaninoff's »Isle of the Dead«. It's nice, very visual (in typical Rachmaninoff style) and indeed »spooky«.

As a side note, I recommend also listening to Max Reger's symphonic poem »Die Toteninsel«, written in 1913 (four years after Rachmaninoff's version), and inspired by the same painting by the symbolist painter Arnold Böcklin but different - in some ways perhaps more "true" to the painting, if you can define such a thing. It's part of four symphonic poems on paintings by Böcklin. They are quite good.

Böcklin painted several versions, here's one of them in a slightly bigger version (see johnnyx's link for the other versions)


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## Manuel

Frederik Magle said:


> I have only heard the orchestral version of Rachmaninoff's »Isle of the Dead«. It's nice, very visual (in typical Rachmaninoff style) and indeed »spooky«.
> 
> As a side note, I recommend also listening to Max Reger's symphonic poem »Die Toteninsel«, written in 1913 (four years after Rachmaninoff's version), and inspired by the same painting by the symbolist painter Arnold Böcklin but different - in some ways perhaps more "true" to the painting, if you can define such a thing. It's part of four symphonic poems on paintings by Böcklin. They are quite good.
> 
> Böcklin painted several versions, here's one of them in a slightly bigger version (see johnnyx's link for the other versions)


I think Rachmaninov originally saw a black and white version of the work by Böcklin. When he had the chance to see the colour one, he was dissapointed with it; saying something it had way too much light.


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## SixFootScowl

Isle of the dead was one of those works that I heard on the Radio and ran out and picked up an LP (~1980). Have not listened to it in years, so it is time I gave it another listen. 





:lol: Resurrected after 10.5 years! Kind of like it was a *dead* thread.


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