Sergei Rachmaninov - Variations on a Theme of Corelli

Composer: Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff (1 April 1873 -- 28 March 1943)
- Performer: Vladimir Ashkenazy


Variations on a Theme of Corelli (Вариации на тему А. Корели) Op. 42, written in 1931.

The Theme is followed by 20 variations, an Intermezzo between variations 13 and 14, and a Coda to finish.
00:00 - Theme. Andante
01:11 - Variation 1. Poco piu mosso
01:58 - Variation 2. L'istesso tempo
02:38 - Variation 3. Tempo di Minuetto
03:12 - Variation 4. Andante
04:09 - Variation 5. Allegro (ma non tanto)
04:30 - Variation 6. L'istesso tempo
04:50 - Variation 7. Vivace
05:18 - Variation 8. Adagio misterioso
06:15 - Variation 9. Un poco piu mosso
07:28 - Variation 10. Allegro scherzando
08:01 - Variation 11. Allegro vivace
08:24 - Variation 12. L'istesso tempo
09:01 - Variation 13. Agitato
09:33 - Intermezzo
10:59 - Variation 14. Andante (come prima)
12:08 - Variation 15. L'istesso tempo
13:57 - Variation 16. Allegro vivace
14:27 - Variation 17. Meno mosso
15:27 - Variation 18. Allegro con brio
15:59 - Variation 19. Piu mosso. Agitato
16:26 - Variation 20. Piu mosso
17:24 - Coda. Andante

The theme is La Folia, which was in fact not composed by Arcangelo Corelli, but was used by him in 1700 as the basis for 23 variations in his Sonata for violin, violone, and harpsichord in D minor, Op. 5, No. 12. La Folia was popularly used as the basis for variations in Baroque music. Franz Liszt used the same theme in his Rhapsodie Espagnole S. 254 (1863).

Rachmaninov dedicated the work to his friend the violinist Fritz Kreisler. He wrote to another friend, the composer Nikolai Medtner, on 21 December 1931:
"I've played the Variations about fifteen times, but of these fifteen performances only one was good. The others were sloppy. I can't play my own compositions! And it's so boring! Not once have I played these all in continuity. I was guided by the coughing of the audience. Whenever the coughing would increase, I would skip the next variation. Whenever there was no coughing, I would play them in proper order. In one concert, I don't remember where - some small town - the coughing was so violent that I played only ten variations (out of 20). My best record was set in New York, where I played 18 variations. However, I hope that you will play all of them, and won't 'cough'."