Vocalise (Rachmaninoff)

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Vocalise, Op. 34 No. 14 is a song by Sergei Rachmaninoff, published in 1912 as the last of his Fourteen Songs, Opus 34. Written for voice (soprano or tenor) with piano accompaniment, it contains no words, and is usually sung entirely to the vowel "ah". It was dedicated to soprano Antonina Nezhdanova.

1 Range
2 Arrangements
3 Music samples
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Range

Although the original publication stipulates that the song may be sung by either soprano or tenor voice, it is virtually never performed by a tenor as the male voice's range (an octave lower than a soprano) would sound very odd in relation to the piano accompaniment. The range of the piece is high, going up to a high C-sharp (although Rachmaninoff offers an alternative version which only reaches high A).

[edit] Arrangements

Vocalise's popularity is so great that it has been arranged for many different instrument combinations. Among them:

for orchestra, arranged by Rachmaninoff himself, also by Morton Gould and Kurt Sanderling
for solo soprano with orchestral accompaniment, arranged by Arcady Dubensky
for choir and orchestra, arranged by Norman Luboff and Walter Stoff
for solo piano, arranged by Alan Richardson, Zoltan Kocsis and others
for two pianos, arranged by Vitya Vronsky
for solo violin and piano, arranged by Jascha Heifetz
for solo cello and piano, arranged by Jascha Heifetz & Mstislav Rostropovich
for solo cello and piano, arranged by Wolfram Huschke
for solo double-bass and piano, arranged by Oscar G. Zimmerman (in e minor)
for solo flute and orchestra, arranged by Charles Gerhardt
for saxophone, arranged by Larry Teal
for trumpet, arranged by Rolf Smedvig
for solo trombone and piano by Christian Lindberg
for electronic instruments, by Isao Tomita
for Theremin by Clara Rockmore

[edit] Music samples

Vocalise (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- Rachmaninoff conducts his own arrangement of Vocalise for orchestra, in a recording from 1929. Rachmaninoff demonstrates the lyricism he expected from a performance of this piece, with the violins of the Philadelphia Orchestra using portamento to add expressiveness to the main line
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