Serge Rachmaninov is best known for his piano and orchestral works. However, he also wrote a number of choral works that are just as important: the Liturgy of St. John Chrisostom, The Vespers and The Bells. The latter work is a cantata for soprano, tenor, baritone, chorus and orchestra, based on a poem by Edgar Allen Poe. In this poem, entitled The Bells, Poe manages to evoke the magic of the bells
… thanks to very refined use of language and obsessing rhymes. Rachmaninov used a Russian adaptation by Kostantin Balmont for his tone, who apparently had succeeded in translating Poe's sound-rich language into equivalent Russian. The text depicts four stages of human life on the basis of four types of bells: silver sleigh bells, golden wedding bells, copper alarm bells and iron death bells. The first three parts of the cantata work towards the gloomy last movement, in which Rachmaninov expresses his almost morbid obsession with death. At the very end, however, when the baritone is silent, the orchestra plays a short, but moving epilogue, which suddenly puts the preceding in a much milder light. Rachmaninov dedicated De Klokken to Willem Mengelberg and his Concertgebouw Orchestra, who would never perform the work. Unfortunately, De Klokken's success was only mediocre, although Rachmaninov once stated that he considered it his most important work. Reason enough to get to know this strong music, for example in the performance of soprano Marina Mescheriakova, tenor Sergei Larin, baritone Vladimir Chernov, The Moscow State Chamber Choir and The Russian National Orchestra conducted by Mikhail Pletnev. This CD also contains John of Damascus op.1 by Sergei Taneyev. (HJ) _more