Lugansky - Rachmaninoff, Étude-Tableau, Appassionato (Op. 39, No. 5)
Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)
Étude-Tableau, Op. 39 (1916-1917)
No. 5 in E♭ minor. Appassionato
Nikolai Lugansky, 2020
St. Petersburg PhilharmoniaÉtudes-Tableaux, Op. 33 + Op. 39 https://youtu.be/KGniWXjsdu4
“The Études-tableaux op. 39 (1916) is the last Rachmaninov's work written in Russia, The whole cycle, conceived on a larger scale than op. 33, was performed for the first time in February 1917, the last days of the Russian empire. The coming events cast their sinister shadows over this composition. Eight pieces of nine are written in minor. […]
Étude-tableau No. 5 in E flat minor was written last and became probably the most popular piece in the whole cycle. Inspired poem of rare harmonic beauty recreated the epic living image of Russia in her tragic grandeur. The excitement mounting throughout the piece is summarized in the grandiose culmination of the reprise, after which the tension subsides, and everything dissolves in the quiet of the coda.”
— Lugansky