March 28, 1945: Carnegie Hall, New York City, New York (Live)
Selected Études-Tableaux: [ Ссылка ]
Horowitz plays Rachmaninoff: [ Ссылка ]
The Études-Tableaux ("study pictures"), Op. 39, is the second of two sets of piano études composed by Sergei Rachmaninoff. They were intended to be "picture pieces", essentially "musical evocations of external visual stimuli". (Still Rachmaninoff did not disclose what inspired each one.)
Rachmaninoff biographer Max Harrison calls the Études-Tableaux "studies in musical composition"; while they explore a variety of themes, they "investigate the transformation of rather specific climates of feeling via piano textures and sonorities. They are thus less predictable than the preludes and compositionally mark an advance" in technique. They are even fuller, more finely textured and darker than the first set(Op. 33).
No. 5 in c minor is a lugubrious march that transforms into a cacophonous blaze of the composer's much-loved bell motif at the end. It can be said to be the most convoluted among Op. 39 set. The tonality blurred, and the whole piece is composed of tense harmony. It is also unique that various modes were used.
Horowitz performed this piece three times in the early 1945. This recording was fortunately recorded in one of them. Indeed, the way he handles his repertoire is often difficult to understand.
