Work
Loading...-
3 Pieces, TN ii/19Year: 1917
Genre: Other Keyboard
Pr. Instrument: Piano
These three works were compiled posthumously and represent Rachmaninov's last piano pieces. The first piece is untitled, but was published as Prélude in d minor. It is an Andante Elegy. Somber in mood, it is full of the rich and unusual harmonies of Rachmaninov's last period. The Oriental Sketch in B-flat major seems something of an experiment. Stylistically, it is typical in its octaves and full chords, but harmonically it is unusual in its use of the octatonic scale, a form that both Rimsky-Korsakov and Stravinsky used to great effect in their "Russian" works. The third piece, published posthumously as "Fragments" is only twenty-six measures, and seems more of a sketch than a finished work. Two slow, chordal passages surround a slightly faster and more elaborate central passage.
© All Music Guide



