Table of Contents
Sergei Rachmaninoff Vocalise Op. 34, Nr. 14, sheet music, Noten, partitura, partition.
Zoltán Kocsis, arranger and piano.
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Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff (1 April [O.S. 20 March] 1873 – 28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music. Early influences of Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, and other Russian composers gave way to a thoroughly personal idiom notable for its song-like melodicism, expressiveness, dense contrapuntal textures, and rich orchestral colours.
The piano is featured prominently in Rachmaninoff’s compositional output and he used his skills as a performer to fully explore the expressive and technical possibilities of the instrument.
Vocalise
“Vocalise” is a song by Sergei Rachmaninoff, composed and published in 1915 as the last of his 14 Songs or 14 Romances, Op. 34.
Written for high voice (soprano or tenor) with piano accompaniment, it contains no words, but is sung using only one vowel of the singer’s choosing (see also vocalise). It was dedicated to soprano singer Antonina Nezhdanova. It is performed in various instrumental arrangements more frequently than in the original vocal version.
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Although the original publication stipulates that the song may be sung by either soprano or tenor voice, it is usually performed by a soprano. Though the original composition is in the key signature of C-sharp minor, it is sometimes transposed into a variety of keys, allowing a performer to choose a vocal range more suitable to the natural voice, so that artists who may not have the higher vocal range of a soprano can perform the song.
Arrangements
“Vocalise” transcribed for violin and piano
Duration: 4 minutes and 27 seconds.4:27
Performed by Roxana Pavel (violin) and Monica Pavel-Kissinger (piano)
“Vocalise” for orchestra (1929 recording)
Duration: 32 seconds.0:32
Rachmaninoff conducts his own arrangement for orchestra (Philadelphia Orchestra)
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“Vocalise” has been arranged for many instrumental and vocal combinations, like, for example, for solo piano, many arrangements, including by Alexander Siloti, Alan Richardson (1951), Zoltán Kocsis, Earl Wild, Sergio Fiorentino.
