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1

Sergei Rachmaninov, Variations on a theme by Corelli, Op. 42

Thème: Andante

Variation I: Poco più mosso

Variation II: L'istesso tempo

Variation III: Tempo di minuetto

Variation IV: Andante

Variation V: Allegro (ma non tanto)

Variation VI: L'istesso tempo

Variation VII: Vivace

Variation VIII: Adagio misterioso

Variation IX: Un poco più mosso

Variation X: Allegro scherzando

Variation XI: Allegro vivace

Variation XII: L'istesso tempo

Variation XIII: Agitato

Intermezzo: A tempo rubato

Variation XIV: Andante (come prima)

Variation XV: L'istesso tempo

Variation XVI: Allegro vivace

Variation XVII: Meno mosso

Variation XVIII: Allegro con brio

Variation XIX: Più mosso. Agitato

Variation XX: Più mosso

Coda: Andante

Vladimir Ashkenazy introduces and plays the Variations on a Theme of Corelli, Op. 42 by Rachmaninov

A film by Christopher Nupen

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Program notes

When Sergei Rachmaninov composed his Variations on a Theme of Corelli, he had not published any piano works for over a decade. It was 1931, and though he would live for a further 12 years, it would remain his final work for solo piano, a moody and introspective work reflective of the melancholy that had so often plagued him in his life and career.

Vladimir Ashkenazy, one of the most accomplished interpreters of Rachmaninov, knows the composer better than perhaps anyone else and has been instrumental in bringing it to a larger audience. To introduce the Corelli Variations, he speaks eloquently and informatively about the work, its place in Rachmaninov’s oeuvre, and its particular musical qualities that place it among his most revealing and intimate compositions. We then follow him to Lugano, where he plays them through with the mind-boggling technical expertise and artistic refinement that have been the trademarks of his genius for decades.

A closer look: featured composers

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