Classical Music | Tenor

Recorded on 08/12/2002, uploaded on 03/29/2011

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Rachmaninoff was still in his formative years as a composer when he composed his 12 Songs, op. 14. It was his third collection of songs. Throughout the set, one can observe the composer beginning to conquer the idiom of voice and piano, but must still overlook some passages that tend to strike the listener as ardent youthfulness than the tempered expression of a mature artist. The first song of the set, “I wait for thee,” was composed in 1894, but the remaining eleven in 1896 while Rachmaninoff was also working on his First Symphony.

“Believe Me Not, Friend,” the seventh song of Rachmaninoff’s opus 14 set, is the second of two songs based on text by the Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy. Its two stanzas are comforting words to a neglected lover, reassuring them that the apparent absence is but as the ebb tide of the sea and will soon return “to the beloved shoreline.” A lyrical vocal melody, almost carefree in its reassurance, is supported by a chordal accompaniment that beautifully captures the imagery of the ocean in Tolstoy’s text. From Rachmaninoff’s setting, it is easy to imagine that the poet’s reassurances are given as the tide of affection is already returning. The song’s climax arrives at the last line of text, which then leads into a protracted coda as the full strength of the tide is felt, and the poet’s returned affections wash over his beloved.       Joseph DuBose

Live Recording (Grottammare, Italy) - Aug 2002