V. Gryaznov arrangements of 4 compositions by Sergei Rachmaninoff

Vyacheslav Gryaznov's arrangements of Sergei Rachmaninov's "The Night is Sad" op. 26/12; "How Peaceful" op. 21/7; "Vocalise" op. 34/14; and Italian Polka. His program notes:

One of my favorite of Rachmaninoff’s vocal pieces is the romance “How Peaceful.” The desire to arrange it for piano had been growing in me since my school years, I just lacked that final impetus. Then one day it happened. I did it on the airplane flying from Khabarovsk to Sakhalin, the place where I was born and had enjoyed a happy childhood and which I had not visited for eighteen long years, having left for Moscow many years before. I have always thought about this romance as if melting in a dream with a quiet culmination and did not plan to change anything. However, to my surprise, I wrote it in a different way. Later on, while playing the transcription on the piano I tried to understand why it turned out to be so openly passionate, and it occurred to me that this transcription was not about dissolving in nature or dreams, but about a strong and burning feeling of a man who was once happy here; one who, with all his heart and soul, is trying to bring back that feeling of happiness, being perhaps very far away from his beloved homeland. I can imagine that Rachmaninoff, who was forced to leave his motherland, might not have left the culmination so calm if he had transcribed the romance.

It was not far from Sakhalin (in Japan, to be precise) that the transcription of another romance, “The Night Is Sad” was written, and I am pleased to dedicate it to my dear friend, Mrs. Midori Ota, the owner of a charming voice and beautiful soul.

Rachmaninoff’s songs can be seen as a great platform for producing transcriptions, the author himself has founded this tradition. Rachmaninoff’s Vocalise is evidently one of the most popular romances among transcribers. It is worth mentioning, however, that Sergei Vasilievich did not write his version for piano, but wrote it for an orchestra. It was that special symphonic sound and development I tried to achieve in my transcription while trying to keep the romance without any pianistic tricks.

The arrangement of Rachmaninoff’s Italian Polka was written during one night sometime before my solo recital in Italy. Actually, the original, four-hand piece by Rachmaninoff is an arrangement itself: the melody is natively Italian, Rachmaninoff heard it while traveling with his family, in 1906, not far from small Italian town Marina di Piza.

A number of performers did their own versions of this popular piece. My attempt was not to only make a short and funky encore but to build a quite complex piece with even some dark moments in it.
- Vyacheslav Gryaznov

Performed May 14, 2017 in The Drozdoff Society's Impromptu Classical Music Recital Series' inaugural event at Stamford's "Fish" Church's Fellowship Hall under the auspices of Highland Green Foundation and Fish's Music Director, James Wetherald. The piano is a Mason & Hamlin C.

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Mr. Gryaznov has just recorded a CD of his arrangements on the Steinway & Sons Label which will be released in 2018.
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There is much interest in Mr. Gryaznov's transcriptions. He has many performances coming up in the 2017-2018 season, including many in the New York tri-state. Click on the "Upcoming Concerts" tab in this link for further information: http://gryaznoff.com/en/

These performances will feature some of his transcriptions.

Mr. Gryaznov's transcription scores are published by Schott Music and can be downloaded as pdfs or purchased in hardcopy. Visit http://gryaznoff.com/en/scores for more information.

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