Rachmaninov - Complete Songs [Box set]

If one loves Rachmaninov and doesn't know his songs, one is missing a LOT! They are every bit as important, richly detailed and appealing as anything in his oeuvre. As is the case with all composers of "art song," only a handful of Rachmaninov's 85 songs are performed with any regularity, but the others are every bit as much worth knowing. The exception may be Op.21 No.1--an embarrassingly melodramatic monster called "Fate," based on the opening motif of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony! Oh well, composers are only human--each is entitled to write at least one unmitigated stinkeroo!

The singers are almost uniformly excellent. Joan Rodgers and Serge Leiferkus need no introduction, and Maria Popescu, a mezzo-soprano hitherto unknown to me, is fully worthy of sharing their spotlight. Tenor Alexandre Naoumenko is not on the same level. The voice has a nice color and heft, but the top register needs work. Sometimes, he gets around this with a soft voix mixte. However, when big top notes are called for, he pushes through a tight throat--the results are tolerable, but not really beautiful. Luckily, he sings only 16 songs on these three discs.

I confess I don't care for Howard Shelley's sets of the concertos and solo works. His rubato in this repertoire always seems "synthetic" and self-conscious to me, but I know many listeners will disagree. At any rate, his playing in these songs is natural and convincing, and his technique meets Rachmaninov on the summit.

CAVEAT EMPTOR: The original CHANDOS CD's cost me almost $60! Depending on one's priorities, this inexpensive re-release may be the cheapest way to acquire recordings of all the songs, but not necessarily. Several considerations may influence one to buy this set or Ashkenazy's, or even seek out the CHANDOS CD's. (Personally, I find this Shelley set more satisfactory, for reasons explained below.) For professional musicians, a lot of what follows will belabor the obvious, but I'm trying to include everybody!

1.) THE SONGS ARE PERFORMED HERE IN THEIR ORIGINAL KEYS: Many of the piano parts are as difficult as anything Rachmaninov ever wrote. Transposition compounds difficulty, because it changes the shape the music takes on the keyboard. Because transposition up or down also inevitably changes tone color, there is something to be said for hearing the piano parts in the register of the instrument where this great pianist-composer conceived them. This is chamber music performed by two equal partners, not "solos with accompaniment." The listener does himself and the composer a grave injustice by listening only to the vocal line while "tuning out" the piano, so why not show off both participants to best advantage?

2.) THE SONGS ARE DIVIDED AMONG FOUR DIFFERENT VOICE TYPES: Except for Op.38, the printed music assigns each song to a specific voice classification. Whether or not these suggestions come from the composer himself, they heighten the effectiveness of each song. Because the songs are performed in the original keys, these classifications can be observed in Shelley's set. This also enhances variety--not a bad thing over the course of 85 tracks! Ashkenazy's set doesn't have this advantage because it is performed by only ONE singer, and inescapably, in transposed keys.

3.) BRILLIANT DOESN'T SUPPLY ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS--only transliterations of the Russian, and then gives a website address for translations. Can't say I've seen these, but if they are anything like what I've found on other "art song translation" websites, they will be wildly variable in quality and accuracy, and sometimes, only very approximate "singing translations." On the other hand, if Natalia Challis's name is mentioned as the translator, then go for it.

If one understands Russian, or merely wants to bathe in Rachmaninov, the lack of translations won't be a problem. If one wants to understand the words but doesn't want to spend the time, money and effort with Rosetta Stone, I suggest several possibilities:

a.) Buy this BRILLIANT set and check out the translations website it recommends. If you're satisfied, make printouts or copy the texts to a CDR. If you're not satisfied, buy Natalia Challis' "The Singer's Rachmaninoff," sold right here on AMAZON. If you are a professional musician, you will already know this invaluable book, containing ALL of the songs in Russian, word-for-word English translations, and pronunciations in the International Phonetic Alphabet. This will cost about the same as "b", and might be the best idea for professionals, because it offers the most "bang for the buck." OR...the book should be in most university music department libraries.

b.) Find the CHANDOS CD's, as of this date, still available. The booklets contain transliterated Russian with English, French and German translations. This will be much more expensive than BRILLIANT, but one will be absolutely sure of having Natalia Challis' excellent translations in a space-saving form, conveniently tucked inside the jewel cases with the recordings.

The bottom line: at ANY level of intimacy, these songs are worth knowing. At this price, this beautifully performed and well-thought-out set is a steal! If you love Rachmaninov, get acquainted with his songs.

I agree wholeheartedly with the other reviewer about the quality of the musical performances: simply unmatched at the price and I do prefer the use of different voice types. But the lack of texts is a problem. Yes, you can get round it - you can get most of them (but not quite all) online. But that means that if you are going to listen to these discs while using your laptop to find the lyrics you have to be prepared to pause between tracks to get to the next translation/transliteration or go to the bother of creating a computer file that's in the right order. Maddening!