IDAGIO | Rachmaninov: Études-Tableaux

Featuring

Nikolai Lugansky
Sergei Rachmaninoff

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Historical Context

The three additional pieces on this album, Fragments, Oriental Sketch, and Prelude in D minor, were composed in November 1917 during a desperate period in Rachmaninoff's life, just weeks before he left his homeland.

Interpretation

Nikolai Lugansky, the performer on this album, believes that in Rachmaninoff's Études-Tableaux, visual imagery plays a more significant role than specific pianistic techniques, especially in Op. 33.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Rachmaninoff did not wish to reveal the specific inspirations behind his Études-Tableaux, stating, "I do not believe in the artist disclosing too much of his images. Let them paint for themselves what [the music] most suggests."

Composition History

Rachmaninoff initially omitted three études from his Op. 33 collection; two of these were rediscovered after his death and reinserted into later editions, while one was reworked and included in Op. 39.

Compositional Technique

The Études-Tableaux showcase Rachmaninoff's extraordinary pianistic abilities, using complex textures and a rich harmonic language with modal colorations and mysterious resonances that evoke the sound of bells.

Historical Context

The Études-Tableaux Op. 39, composed between September 1916 and February 1917, were Rachmaninoff's last piano work before his exile from Russia in December 1917.