Classical Music | Cello Music

Sergei Rachmaninov

Vocalise, Op. 34, No. 14 in e minor  Play

Kenneth Olsen Cello
Jelena Dirks Piano

Recorded on 08/14/2007, uploaded on 01/15/2009

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Vocalise is one of his most beloved and well-known creations—a piece that has taken on a life and reputation separate from its thirteen companion pieces that make up the composer’s Fourteen Songs, op. 34. In technical terms, the vocalise is to song much in the same way the étude is to a piano piece, and its history dates back to the mid-18th century. While the étude underwent a radical transformation during the 19th century that began with Frédéric Chopin, the vocalise did not. However, a few composers of the early 20th century, searching for new means of expression, found in the vocalise all the potential of a blank canvas. Fauré and Stravinsky both composed their own songs without words, but it is Rachmaninoff’s 1912 composition that is the vocalise for many admirers of his work and classical music in general.

In the plaintive key of C-sharp minor, the voice weaves its melancholy and longing melody over a slowly descending bass and a pulsing accompaniment of chords. The melody gracefully unfolds across a rounded binary form as the piece progresses. A wealth of material is presented in its opening section from which Rachmaninoff then draws upon and plays out in both the voice and accompaniment during the latter section, in particular as the piece’s emotional climax is reached. A brief coda concludes the piece where the voice soars above the accompaniment before coming to rest on the tonic and fading away into the final cadence.

Though Rachmaninoff indicated the work can be sung by a soprano or a tenor, it is generally performed by the former, and like many songs, is transposed to different keys to best match the range of the vocalist. The composer himself also scored the work for voice and orchestra, in which form it is often heard. As with many well-known compositions, it has also been transcribed for a myriad of solo instruments and ensembles by various hands.        Joseph DuBose

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Vocalise for Cello and Piano                  Sergei Rachmaninov

Rachmaninoff wrote so much bravura piano music and so many dramatic orchestral works that one tends to overlook his greatest strength as a composer - an incredible lyric gift best evident in his more than seventy songs and numerous choral works.  Vocalise dates from the summer of 1912, when he completed a cycle of fourteen songs, tailoring each to the talents of an individual Russian singer he knew.  The last of the fourteen - dedicated to soprano Antonina Nezhdanovka, a member of the Moscow Grand Opera - was wordless.  The song proved popular, and a few years later, at the suggestion of conductor Serge Koussevitsky, Rachmaninoff arranged Vocalise for string orchestra.   Vocalise offers Rachmaninoff's most bittersweet lyricism, suffused with a dark, elegiac quality.  It was performed at Rachmaninoff's memorial service.     Kenneth Olsen

Listeners' Comments        (You have to be logged in to leave comments)

Lovely legato & bow changes combine with sensitive interpretation to make a memorable performance. I'm envious!

Submitted by Feurmann on Wed, 07/01/2009 - 18:24. Report abuse

It's gorgeously sensitive without overt emotions. Very classy. Thank you ffor such a pleasurable performance.

Submitted by winnietam on Fri, 09/30/2011 - 02:20. Report abuse