One might think that Rachmaninoff's favorite composition of his own works would be one of the big piano works, perhaps a concerto, or one of the Études-Tableaux. Actually, it was his superb cantata (sometimes called a choral symphony), The Bells (Kolokola), op. 35, which has the honor. Though the work does include piano, the instrument is very much a part of the orchestral texture and is at no point soloistic.

The work, in four movements, is based on the famous poem of the same name by Edgar Allan Poe. The lyrics have an interesting history. The original poem was in English, of course, and Rachmaninoff's setting is based on a free translation into Russian by Konstantin Balmont. The Rachmaninoff setting was later re-aligned into English by Fanny Copeland; this re-working, which has been recorded many times, bears little resemblance to the original Poe, especially as the Balmont removed many of the poetic devices which Poe used.

In a recent conversation with one of my students, he mentioned that he was playing a piece in orchestra with a very fast trumpet lick in it. It reminded me of the terrific third movement of the Rachmaninoff, which has a blistering trumpet flurry towards the end. Nevertheless, I've chosen the first movement (perhaps my favorite) for this month's clip. This is a great performance led by Kirill Kondrashin. Reissued many times, this particular disc comes with a nice reading of Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances, too. The Dies Irae, almost a signature for Rachmaninoff, makes its way into both pieces, and the Symphonic Dances quotes several other works (notably, for me, Vespers).

Proceeding from the divine to the ridiculous, the disc is part of a two-disc set, and the other disc contains works of Khachaturian. The Masquerade Suite is a nice enough work, simple, and pleasant if one doesn't take it too seriously. The Piano Concerto is also a fun piece, though I chiefly remember it for its silly use of the flexatone. The other piece is, speaking of trumpets, the utterly inane Symphony #3, a work I hadn't heard in probably about 20 years before I bought this disc. In fact, I didn't know Kondrashin (or anyone else) had made a recording, as for a long time it seemed as if the only one available was the Stokowski Chicago Symphony recording. Anyway, if you are unfamiliar, the symphony already is on shaky footing, as it includes an organ: never a good sign; symphonies with organ usually leave something to be desired. Perhaps the two most famous, Saint-Saëns's Third and Mahler's Eighth do not escape this. The Saint-Saëns, while being his best, by a long shot, is still not exactly the most gripping piece. And the Mahler, while wonderful, is easily his weakest piece. But the real calling card of the Khachaturian is the use of 15 trumpets (not a typo). As far as the piece goes, and as far as I'm concerned, that's probably 15 too many. The good news is that is only lasts about 25 minutes; and, having recently re-acquainted myself with the piece, I think I'm good for another twenty or so years.