Suite No. 1 (Rachmaninoff)

Suite No. 1 in G Minor (or Fantaisie-tableaux), Op. 5, is a work for two pianos by Sergei Rachmaninoff. Written in the summer of 1893 at the Lysikof estate in Lebeden, Kharkov,[1] it was initially titled Fantaisie-tableaux because Rachmaninoff intended it, as he explained in a letter to his cousin Sofia Satin, to consist "of a series of musical pictures."[1] (While François-René Tranchefort asserts that the music illustrates four extracts of poems, written by Mikhail Lermontov, Lord Byron, Fyodor Tyutchev and Aleksey Khomyakov,[2][3] Rachmaninoff biographer Max Harrison points out that, although the poems do "convey something of the emotional tone of the music," the suite itself is not programmatic.[1]) Dedicated to Tchaikovsky, the work was premiered on November 30, 1893, by Rachmaninoff himself and Pavel Pabst, in Moscow. Its four movements are:

  1. Barcarolle. Allegretto, in G minor.
  2. La nuit... L'amour... Adagio sostenuto, in D major. (The night...the love...)
  3. Les Larmes. Largo di molto, in G minor. (The Tears)
  4. Pâques. Allegro maestoso, in G minor. (Easter)

Rachmaninoff composed a second suite for two pianos in 1901.

The Suite No. 1 was arranged for piano and orchestra by Rebekah Harkness. A 1968 recording by Jorge Mester and the London Philharmonic Orchestra was released in 1994 on Citadel Records.

References
  1. Harrison, Max (2005). Rachmaninoff: Life, Works, Recordings. London: Continuum. p. 22.
  2. Tranchefort, François-Rene (1987). Guide de la musique de piano et de clavecin. Fayard.
  3. Rachmaninoff, Sergei (1922). Suite No.1. Moscow: A. Gutheil. OCLC 17395266.


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