Silhouettes

Although Arensky was one of Rimksy-KorsakovŐs most gifted pupils, the older composer sems to have been impressed as much by his appetite for drinking and gambliing as by his creative ability. ŇThe man burned himself out,Ó Rimksy delcared after ArenskyŐs death. Ňbut he was not without talentÉIn his youth he had not entirely escaped my own influence; later he fell under that of Tchaikovsky. He will soon be forgotten.Ó

Obviously, in that last judgement Rimksy was wrong but, outside Russia at least, not very wrong. Arensky is known here for his Vairations on a Theme of Tchaikovsky and perhaps also for a delightful waltz in his First Suite for two pianos. The Second Suite for two pianos, Silhouettes, was written in 1892, when the composer was at the height of his powers and not yet exhausted by his hectic life style.

Although he wrote for two pianos with great understandinbg - Silhouettes is an appropriately black and white title for an essntially black and white medium - Arensky was also a skilful orchestrator, as Rimsky-Korsakov once conceded. Without knowing the history of the work, it would be an exceptionally perceptive listener who could guess that Le Savant, for exampoe, was not originally conceived for orchestra. Given that knowledge, one can hear that, although it is frequently in four parts, the fugal texture can actually be divided into two halves.

Just as scholars are usually depicted in music as exponents of learned and heavy-handed counterpoint, coquettes conventionally do their flirting in waltz time. ArenskyŐs La Coquette is a characteristic example, with clarinet, flut and soo violin in flighty competition for admiring attention. Buffoons are normally associated with bassoons. But in Polichinelle, which is the most original if not the most charming of the five movement, Arensky offers the distinction to the horns, whoc are occupied throughout the piece with a peculiarly obstinate three-note theme.

Dreams and harps are inseparable of course. This Rveur is caressed by gentle harp arpeggios in the outer sections but, in the middle, th drream and its main theme develop along less conventional and surprisingly passionate lins. As for dancers, their musical characterisation depends largely on what nationality the composer want to give them. ArenskyŐs Danseuse is equipped with a pair of castanets, which instrument carries the same geographical associations as the thme duly introduced by oboe and cor anglais. As the Spanish dance proceeds, it accumulates the kind of brilliance and, as it accelerates, the kind of exhilaration which even Rimsky-Korsakov should have found memorable.