I find myself returning to Rachmaninov’s “Isle of the Dead” everyone once in a while… today, I marvelled at how long it is before that wonderful opening returns, accompanied with a lovely floating violin line. The swells of sound that move with the piece’s lush harmonies, the delicate textures which arise from the mass of sound, the almost unending delay of the inevitable in the return of that opening… I think it is Rachmaninov’s orchestration of his harmonies that have made the most impression on me, the choice of timbres and open spacing.
I don’t know his music as well as I’d like, and perhaps this reaction to this latest listening of his music is a sign I should I be spending more time with it…