5 Morceaux de fantaisie Op.3 (1892)

Élégie

Prélude:

Mélodie

Polichinelle

Sérénade

The Morceaux de fantaisie, Rachmaninov’s first published piano pieces, have had a curiously chequered career. The second of them, the Prélude in C sharp minor – the earliest of the set of 24 preludes he completed in two stages in 1903 and 1910 respectively – was once one of the most popular of all piano works and is still a firm favourite. The Élégie and Polichinelle, on the other hand, are not much performed today and, although the composer himself liked the Mélodie and the Sérénade enough to issue them in revised versions towards the end of his life, they are not exactly frequent travellers either.

Performances of the whole set of Morceaux de fantaisie, such as we are to hear today, are rare. One reason for that must be the possibility that the Prélude is such a powerful inspiration that the other four of these “fantasy pieces” could sound pale in comparison. It would be a mistake to underestimate them, however. The E flat minor opening section of the Élégie, with its artfully syncopated melodic line poised in the right hand over wide-ranging arpeggios in the left, might seem a little conventional. The quicker middle section, however, beginning with a new melody in the left hand, develops so much passion as to burst into an extraordinary modulation into A major at the central climax of the piece. Coming immediately after the dramatic events of the Prélude, the dreamy intimacy of the opening of Mélodie is refreshing, eventful though it too turns out to be before tranquillity is restored at the end. Polichinelle is a brilliantly witty character study of Mr Punch and just the thing to prepare the way for comic element in the Sérénade, which is a delightfully incongruous mixture of waltz-time rhythms and Spanish melody with guitar-style accompaniment.