Carnegie Hall: Berlin Philharmonic Performs Rachmaninoff and Stravinsky

Yesterday evening the Berlin Philharmonic, led by Simon Rattle, performed at Carnegie Hall one work each by Russia's two great twentieth century exiles, Sergei Rachmaninoff and Igor Stravinsky.  I had deliberately chosen this program over that of the Opening Night festivities held the evening before because I had felt that the inclusion of the Bruch Violin Concerto in the latter was obviously out of context and would serve only to distract my attention from the masterpieces that opened and closed the program.  It did not greatly help matters that on Opening Night the Stravinsky opus was shortened to include only the ballet's closing scenes.

In the event, it was fascinating to observe the pairing of two composers who, despite their similar backgrounds and expatriate status, were complete opposites in almost every respect.  For Rachmaninoff can most easily be thought of as the last of the Russian romantics and, as such, the true heir to Tchaikovsky and the lush nineteenth century tradition he represented.  Rachmaninoff's fascination with such artists as Poe and Böcklin had led him to reimagine the past in terms that seem to us today almost Gothic in their sensibilities.  This can most easily be seen in works such as Isle of the Dead, with its repeated references to the medieval Dies Irae, and in the choral symphony The Bells based on Poe's poem.  His fellow countryman, on the other hand, was the veritable avatar of modernism.  The collaborator of both Diaghilev and Picasso, Stravinsky formulated in Le Sacre du Printemps a totally new approach to rhythm that radically changed the course of twentieth century music and even now exerts a strong influence on the work of post-modernist composers.

The Carnegie Hall concert thus became a study in contrasts.  As acknowledged in the Program Notes:

"Rachmaninoff stayed true to the old Russia that Stravinsky abandoned; the Symphonic Dances evoke a haunting nostalgia for a lost era, while The Firebird projects an endless freshness and sense of possibility, looking forward to a new world even as it celebrates an older one."

It was with the Symphonic Dances, Op.45 (1940) that the program opened.  This was, of course, Rachmaninoff's last composition and can be viewed as a summation of all he had hitherto accomplished.  Though completely secular in nature, the three-movement piece is replete with any number of references to Russian liturgical music as well as to Rachmaninoff's own earlier works, including his 1895 First Symphony.  Not only is the Dies Irae once again present but this time, in the final movement, the quote taken from it is placed alongside another chosen from the ninth movement of the composer's 1915 All-Night Vigil as though to emphasize to the listener the eternal conflict between death and resurrection.  Clearly, Rachmaninoff intended the Dances to be seen as his valediction.  What's also noteworthy in the piece are its powerful rhythms that demonstrate, intentionally or not, the influence Stravinsky's work had had upon that of his peer.

I've previously posted about an excellent performance of this piece I saw last season at Carnegie Hall with Valery Gergiev conducting the Mariinsky Orchestra.  That occasion provided me with a benchmark with which to judge the current performance.  I felt that while the Berlin Philharmonic's rendition had a full rich sound it was somewhat impersonal and lacked the passionate intensity that the Mariinsky Orchestra had brought to their interpretation.  As such, it failed to involve me as completely as it might otherwise have.

The Firebird (1910) is most significant for having been the then unknown composer's first commission from the Ballets Russes.  The story had already been developed by Alexandre Benois and choreographer Michel Fokine by the time Stravinsky commenced work on the score.  (Coincidentally, Rachmaninoff had corresponded extensively with Fokine while in the process of composing Symphonic Dances, but both men then died in 1942 before any ballet could be derived from it.)  This was the company's first original score and its success led directly to Stravinsky's later engagements on Petrushka (1911) and Le Sacre du Printemps (1913).  As an early work, The Firebird represents an intermediate period in Stravinsky's career when he had not yet completely freed himself from the Russian romantic tradition - the influence of Rimsky-Korsakov can easily be distinguished throughout - but was already moving forward in the modernist vein that would be much more apparent in the scores immediately following it.  Certainly, The Firebird was Stravinsky's great breakthrough and the first real indication of the genius he would later display.

Thankfully, the orchestra yesterday evening performed the ballet's complete score rather than only highlights.  Unlike the reduced 1919 and 1945 suites, the original score (as well as the 1910 suite) was arranged by the composer for full orchestra.  Although Stravinsky later bemoaned this instrumentation as "wastefully large," its use allowed the audience to better experience the work as he had initially conceived it.  When played in its entirety rather than in suite form the ballet provided to the listener a great deal of insight into the mind of a young composer as he struggled to rid himself of past influences and discover his own style.  For these reasons it was in many ways more interesting to hear than the work which had preceded it.  The orchestra itself gave a careful nuanced reading that brought out all the subtlety of the composition.