Rachmaninoff pre-lunch concert

Before the concert

Rachmaninoff 1

Ah let’s see the program,

Hum, a recital on Sergei Rachmaninoff

A complete hour on Russia greatest composer

Oh what a treat!

Except, except that I am not a fan.

Oh well, that will be an hour of musical meditation.

Let's see, we have preludes followed by etudes and tableaux

From opus 32, op. 23, op. 33 and op. 39.

It is going to be a long hour.

Rachmaninoff 2

Looking at the program

Studying the tempo

Why did Rachmaninoff  chose

To give French names to his pieces

With Italian terms?

It would have given a full exotic note

If he had kept to the same language

Just wondering..

Preludes

Rachmaninoff 3

The right hand emits distress calls to the listener

While forceful banging issues from the left of the keyboard

Meanwhile the powerful base flows and runs from the left hand.

I am not sure if there is a love hate relationship

In the ménage à trois between the pianist, the piano and the music

But there is a lot of banging going on.

The powerful left hand strokes carry everything in front of them

As in a ragging torrent would carry the trunk of a tree

The right hand adds by its nervousness to the overall agitation

Flying this way and that way like a bird

Buffeted by a billow from the pedal shots

Without seemingly any control.

And this is a prelude! Anxiety is increasing

But loud claps from the aged audience

Obviously the pianist was heard by quite a few of them

Despite their deafness and they liked it.

Now just for the record

Loud volume dissonance is not,

And I insist, not synonymous with majestic music.

For the next prelude piece

Strong pedal work in this case adds to the ruckus

As one may suggest ruckus in D horror alla Marcia!!!!!!

Rachmaninoff 4

Obvious dichotomy of the hands of the pianist

Left powerful male hand large calm

Versus the smaller more feminine right hand.

The noise of a saucepans battery increases.

I did not know that one could get sounds like that

We are only in the second piece of the preludes

At this pace we'll need to change the piano, I swear

It will be a wreck after this treatment.

Is there an emergency piano unit on attendance

As a serious tuning surgery will be necessary?

Why, but why did Rachmaninoff called this a prelude?

Nothing would dare follow such music.

The right hand flutters on the keys shrill and strident

The left one storms on  the  lower ones

But very rarely the two hands play together.

Rachmaninoff 5

  

We must not forget the pianist,

Bespectacled gentleman arrive

In a rather long jacket

That looks like an overcoat

For a concierge in a WWII French movie.

He is not comfy as he keeps adjusting  

And readjusting his glasses and the stool,

He even stops the concert

Saying that he has forgotten

What was he to play! That his heart is not in it.

Then in the middle of one piece he suddenly remembers

And decides to play it. But the crowd is good tempered

Today as it bravoes him enough to tempt him

Giving us an encore. What a treat!  

Etudes et Tableaux

Rachmaninoff 6

Etudes et tableaux are the main meal

After the entrees as preludes.

I'm anxious

Thirty seconds of tantalizing divine Rachmaninoff

Or dare I say what Rachmaninoff should be

Like the first mouthful burst of flavor juices

In an exotic meal.  

The audience is very restless today

As the music it is not conducing to quiet meditation

The piece con fuoco starts strongly

Quickly reaching a crescendo

My mind wanders wondering

If one can ever flambé a beef stroganoff?

Well whatever dish flambéing

The flames are roaring

The dish is being roasted by now.

 Well, I suppose that I must somehow be listening

So much for meditation

One can't ignore this pianist

Lost in his program.

The fire has calmed down

The left hand keeps hammering

The softer touch of the right hand

Suggests to one the Red Army

Entering and reducing to cinders an enemy town.

The cracks behind the organ seem

To be creeping toward the ceiling

In order to escape the heat of the music

The pianist plays with imaginary gloves

Mechanically. The sound is dull

Despite the volume pedal work

Making a bass continuo

But not improving the quality of sound.

Wave after wave rolls upon us

Finishing in a crushing crescendo,

After hitting the high notes

Rolling over to the other side

And strokes like a malevolent clock

That reverberates in the corridor of time.

That is the finale.

All in all an interesting concert

Despite that Rachmaninoff

Is not my kind of composer. 

L. Bailliet ©

 17/04/2012