Symphony No. 1 in D Minor

Once the most notable factor about Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 1 was its disastrous premiere in St. Petersburg on 27 March 1897. Indifferently played and poorly conducted by Glazunov, it left the composer unable to write for two years. Yet this is a work demonstrably in the lineage of Tchaikovsky, not least its being unified by a motto that begins each movement. Dramatically opening the “Allegro ma non troppo”, it leads into a restive theme whose tension subsides into a lyrical idea for woodwind and strings. The development builds toward a powerful climax, then the curtailed reprise brings an implacable coda. The “Allegro animato” is a deft and imaginative scherzo, restrained in manner and with a trio whose flights of fancy convey greater pathos. The “Larghetto” centres on a wistful theme which, tinged with melancholy, becomes the more eloquent after a sombre interlude. Launched by a festive version of the work’s initial theme, the “Allegro con fuoco” finale tempers its ebullience with a central section that restlessly recalls earlier ideas. The ensuing peroration collapses, a baleful coda bringing only fatalistic acceptance in its wake. Missing from the mid-1920s, the work was duly reconstructed with a second hearing in Moscow in 1945, and is now generally recognised as a crucial symphonic statement of its era.