Rachmaninoff, Sergey / arr. Levin, Ira

Sergey Rachmaninoff
(b. Semyonovo Estate near Staraya Russa, Gouvernement Novgorod, 20 March/1 April 1873 – d. Beverly Hills/California, 28 March 1943)

compiled and orchestrated by
Ira Levin
(b. Chicago, 19 August 1958)

Five Pieces
(2014)

I Polnoe sobrannie sochinenni (Oriental Sketch). Allegretto (B-flat major; 1917) p. 3
II Bogoroditse Devo (Rejoice, o Virgin), Op. 37 No. 6. Adagio sostenuto (G-flat major, for strings only;
from All-Night Vigil for mixed choir a cappella, 1915) p. 14
III Étude tableau, Op. 33 No. 6. Non allegro – Presto (E-flat minor; 1911) p. 16
IV Prélude, Op. 32 No. 10. Lento e sostenuto (B minor; 1910) p. 29
V Humoresque, Op. 10 No. 5. Allegro vivace (G major; from 7 Morceaux de salon, 1893-94) p. 42

Preface
”The metronome indications are not original and are simply meant as suggestions based upon my own experience performing and listening to these works for many years.
”The Etude is a virtuoso tour de force and should be played strictly in tempo, as fast as possible without losing clarity, and the Vesper movement should maintain an air of solemnity and yet breathe naturally, as if sung by a chorus. The Prelude and Humoresque, on the other hand, require a high degree of rubato and subjective involvement, nothing would kill this music more than a metronomic performance! Although the b-minor Prelude was Rachmaninoff’s own favorite among his preludes, he did not record it. But he did record the Humoresque and it is highly advisable to listen to his 1940 studio recording of it, along with his other recordings of his solo works.
”I transposed ’Bogoroditse Devo’ up a half-step from it’s original F-major to fit into the key scheme of the four pieces, which should be played without too much of a break between them.”

Ira Levin, 2014

The pieces by Sergey Rachmaninoff that are herewith presented in Ira Levin’s arrangement as an orchestral suite were originally composed between 1893 and 1917. Four of the pieces are originally written for piano solo, and the second movement that is set exclusively for string orchestra is originally a hymn from one of the most important orthodox works for choir a cappella by Rachmaninoff. Initially, Levin conceived the suite as a work in four movements beginning with the Prélude Op. 32 No. 10. These Four Pieces were premièred by the Orquesta Filarmonica de Buenos Aires under Levin’s direction in Buenos Aires on 3 April 2014. After the concert the arranger and some of his competent friends had the feeling that ”something is still missing”. Thereupon Levin orchestrated the Orienta Sketch from 1917, put it at the beginning of the suite and switched the Prélude as a contrasting slow movement to the penultimate position. Levin conducted the Orquestra Sinfônica de Porto Alegre in the première of the Five Pieces – that are herewith released in first print – in Porto Alegre on 23 September 2014. In this work that fills a ’genre-gap’ in Rachmaninoff’s œuvre Levin appears to be an outstanding orchestrator whose treatment of the orchestra which bears comparison with the phenomenal orchestration in Rachmaninoff’s original orchestral works, and he turns out to be a musician of extraordinary sensitivity with regard to the proportions and characteristic contrasts that form a multi-movement work into a creative unity – a work that proves to be very successful since its première….

Read full preface > HERE