This is a piece that I uncovered for myself while browsing through some online concerts by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. It should be fun to learn some more Rachmaninov. I’ve loved the concerti for many years (No. 2 is my favorite, by the way), and am moderately familiar with the Vespers and some of the solo piano works, but other than that, I don’t know a lot of Rachmaninov. In spite of that fact, I still consider him one of my favorite early modern-era composers. Isle of the Dead intrigues me, and I’m excited to learn more about it.
Initial Impressions
I’ve been particularly intrigued by the fact that this a study in what can be done by playing with meter over an extended period of time. Granted, 5/8 offers more than your average meter in that Rachmaninov is able to move the undulations of the waves from 2+3 to 3+2, and he does so regularly. Still, over some thirty initial pages of the full score, he keeps the content Greg and with a sense of being ever-changing, in spite of the fact that there is not a lot of change. In that regard it reminds me a bit of another representation of moving water, that of the vorspiel to Das Rheingold, which maintains not only its key over several minutes but somehow also manages to keep a sense of forward momentum across a single chord. A minimalist treat for mid-19th century.