I. Lento – Allegro moderato II. Adagio ma non troppo III.Allegro

After his emigration in 1918, Rachmaninov virtually stopped composing for many years. With most of his means left behind in Russia, and facing the need to support his family, he decided to change the course of his life at the age of 45 and embark on a virtuoso career. Although he had been famous as a prodigious pianist since his youth, he had rarely performed anything but his own music. He now built up a repertoire of Classical works, quickly establishing his international reputation as one of the greatest pianists of his time. For years he had a busy concert schedule in Europe and the United States, and it is natural that little time was left for composing. His only major works written during the 1920s were the Fourth Piano Concerto and the Three Russian Songs for chorus and orchestra.

It was not until the 1930s that Rachmaninov again devoted more time to composing. He had not given up concertizing altogether, but in the villa he had bought in Switzerland he had at last the time and the peace of mind to engage in some large-scale creative projects. Thus in 1934 he wrote his popular Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, followed by the Third Symphony and the Symphonic Dances, which remained his last finished composition.

Almost thirty years separate the Third Symphony from the Second, which was completed in 1907. Taking up symphony-writing where he had left off a generation earlier, Rachmaninov stayed remarkably true to himself, which is not to say that his style had not changed. It had become richer and the range of colors on his palette had expanded considerably. By observing traditional symphonic form, Rachmaninov imposed a Classical discipline on his unbridled Romantic imagination. Thus, the first movement of the Third Symphony is in a regular sonata form with easily recognizable second theme, development section, and recapitulation. The second-movement Adagio has an “Allegro vivace” (quasi-Scherzo) middle section, effectively telescoping the two middle movements into one. The third-movement Finale is again in sonata form; although its structure is less rigorous than that of the first movement.

Like the first two Rachmaninov symphonies, the Third opens with a motto that recurs in all movements. This motto is made up of only three different notes; despite its simplicity, however, it bears the stamp of Rachmaninov’s personality. Its scoring for three solo instruments – clarinet, muted horn, and muted cello – immediately draws our attention to the virtuosic orchestration that characterizes the entire piece. The motto is also capable of undergoing transformations in rhythm and orchestration to adopt a more resolute dramatic tone, yet it is most memorable when it appears at the end of both the first and the second movements in a veiled pianissimo and with an unmistakable tinge of resignation.

The first movement’s second theme is played by the cellos to the accompaniment of clarinets, bassoons, and harp (which makes its first entrance at this point). One analyst has pointed out that this theme quotes Rachmaninov’s song “Zdes khorosho” (“How fair this spot,” op. 21, No. 7), written in 1902 at his family’s estate in Ivanovka. Rachmaninov, enjoying the beauties of his Swiss villa, may have been reminded of his Paradise Lost.

The development section begins with the unique combination of a duo of bassoons accompanied by the violas only. Rachmaninov builds a highly effective climax by adding more and more instruments, including brass and percussion; then he suddenly takes them all away for a moment and introduces the motto theme in a variation of almost Prokofievian freakishness, with a quite novel scoring for piccolo, bassoon, and xylophone. The full orchestra – including bass drum and cymbals, which were silent so far – now intones the motto, which is repeated in a more austere setting on the brass playing in unison. Throughout the movement, the succession of timbre combinations is as carefully planned as the sequence of melodies.

The second movement contains many exquisite moments featuring successive solos of horn (accompanied by harp), violin, flute (accompanied by harp, celesta, and four solo violas), and bass clarinet. The fast middle section is remarkable for its rhythmic poignancy and many sudden contrasts in volume and instrumentation. The transitions between the slow section to the Scherzo and back to the first tempo are signalled by a trill figure played alternately by the first and second violins. The recapitulation is much shorter than the first Adagio; it is limited to a recall of the principal theme, followed by the motto, played by plucked strings in pianissimo, closing the movement like in a whisper.

The themes that make up the third movement are rather diverse in tempo, tonality, and orchestration. The buoyant first theme, played by the full orchestra with a strong rhythmic drive, is contrasted with a more lyrical second subject, to which the forceful chords of the harp make a significant contribution. A small melodic fragment, introduced by an unaccompanied solo bassoon, turns out to be the cell out of which a whole central fugato (fugue-like imitative section) grows, followed by a fairly regular recapitulation.

Some writers have detected traces of the famous medieval chant melody “Dies irae” (which plays such an important role in several of Rachmaninov’s works) in parts of this finale; however, the intervals have been modified so as to make the reference a very vague one. The dark character of the Dies irae, at any rate, seems hardly relevant to the exuberant mood of the finale. The coda is one of  the most brilliant moments in the entire piece: remote keys are directly juxtaposed, and the final A major chord is approached from an interesting angle that, while hardly a novelty in 1936, nevertheless shows that Rachmaninov was not always the arch-conservative he is reputed to have been. Rachmaninov’s old friend, the Russian émigré composer Nikolai Medtner, who heard the first London performance, was distressed by what seemed to him concessions to “modernism” on his friend’s part.

Rachmaninov’s Third Symphony is perhaps the last blossom on the tree of the Russian symphonic tradition symbolized by the name of Tchaikovsky. Rachmaninov carried on this tradition, in which he believed deeply, in the most interesting and innovative way possible.  British musicologist Patrick Piggott is right: “Rachmaninov perfectly succeeded in what he set out to do in this symphony, and orchestras and conductors are evidently becoming increasingly aware of its importance as a valuable addition to the symphonic repertoire of the twentieth century.”