Symphony No. 3 (Rachmaninoff)

The Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op 44 is the last symphony by Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff.

Formation

Rachmaninoff composed the Third Symphony in 1935, are less than 30 years after his second symphony. In 1938 came a second version of the work.

About the Music

Occupation

Piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, English horn, two clarinets in A and B ♭, bass clarinet in A and B ♭, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns in F, two trumpets in A and B ♭, Alttrompete in F, three trumpets, tuba, timpani three, xylophone, triangle, snare drum, cymbals, bass drum, tambourine, gong, harp (or celesta ), violins, violas, cellos, double bass.

Full Sequence

Analysis

With his second main theme of the first movement is linked to the second symphony. The nostalgic idyll of the set are compared in the course of modernism.

The same takes place in the second set, which is held romantic in itself, as a central part but contains a neoclassical Scherzo.

In the third movement of the Symphony Rachmaninov inspired by a fugal to his teacher Sergei Ivanovich Taneyev. The recapitulation is introduced by a bolero interlude.

Effect

The third symphony was premiered in 1936 in Philadelphia. Rachmaninov took the moderate left on public reaction, " your recording with audiences and critics was sour. A review is to me particularly hard in the stomach: that I have no 3rd symphony more in me. I personally am convinced that this is a good work. But sometimes composers are also wrong. But until now, I hold to my opinion. "