Rachmaninoff, Horowitz, and the discursive arena between (re)composition and performance : the case of Rachmaninoff's Piano Sonata, opus 36

摘要

This treatise aims to uncover possible reasons as to why composers rework their compositions. In attempting to answer questions regarding musical and extra-musical (referential) criteria, surrounding conditions and the role performers play in acting as conduits of the aforementioned, the study focuses on three versions of Rachmaninoff’s second Piano Sonata, opus 36. The first of these was composed in 1913, the second constitutes the composer’s revision of this work in 1931, and the third, a subsequent amalgamation of both previously mentioned versions by pianist Horowitz in 1943. The research is grounded in the theoretical ideas of organicist musical structuralism and thematic/motivic transformation (Reti), musical hermeneutics and phenomenology, musical forces (Larsen) and authenticity in musical performance (Taruskin). In addition this study explores methods of critical reading that may be used to disclose the conflicting yet complementary demands of “conciseness” and “drama” contained within the parameters of the three aforementioned versions of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Sonata Op. 36. An introductory chapter is followed by one in which a historical context provides the intertextual matrix against which the musical personae of Rachmaninoff and Horowitz, as well as the three versions of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Sonata Op. 36, may be understood. The chapter thereafter provides a concise overview of the history of musical analysis and the Tendenzwende which signified the change from a purely positivistic analytical approach to a post-modernist perspective on musical critique, against which background a motivation is provided for the analytical approaches applied in this treatise. Chapters 4 and 5 present detailed readings of the sonata from the perspective of “conciseness” and “drama” respectively. In conclusion, the final chapter reflects on findings made and conclusion drawn, with particular reference to the authenticity debate in current musicological discourse.