Rachmaninoff: Inside Out

The London Philharmonic Orchestra is to continue its Rachmaninoff extravaganza with a soaringly ambitious concert. In this instalment, they’re joined by The London Philharmonic Choir – the huge forces combined will play Rach’s Spring Cantata and his Three Russian Folksongs – the first and last of his three large scale works for chorus and orchestra, before concluding with the epic Third Symphony by George Enescu.
The Spring Cantata was Rachmaninoff’s first large scale choral work. Written in 1902, it was inspired by Nekrasov’s poem, The Verdant Noise, which told the tale of a murderous husband hell-bent on killing his wife, only to be dissuaded by the onset of spring. The music is full of the ideas of rebirth and renewal, sunshine and colours – it’s a particularly pictorial piece, and full of the melodic richness we associate with the composer. His Three Russian Folksongs of 1926, are orchestrations based on three traditional folk tunes that caught his ear. Classically Russian in their sound, they have a somewhat foreboding feel, augmented by the use of an extremely low vocal register by the bass singers; it’s believed Rachmaninoff gathered a collection of local Russian Orthodox priests for the first performance – the only people capable of singing the low notes required
The highlight of the concert however, may well be the little performed Third Symphony of the Romanian composer Enescu. Written at the height of the First World War, the music which scored for huge forces, conjures evocatively the deep emotion of the time.