The Question of Cuts in Rachmaninoff’s Second Symphony

By Clinton F. Nieweg

A recent online query about the “correct” cuts for Rachmaninoff’s Second Symphony sparked, as you can imagine, a lot of heated discussion. Although the work is now performed complete by most conductors, this was not always the case and, while we take no sides on the moral issue of making cuts in this landmark work (that is an issue for each conductor’s conscience), we would like to present, as near as possible, a comprehensive guide to the many versions of cuts in the piece.

We asked Ron Whitaker, retired Principal Librarian of The Cleveland Orchestra, for his expert guidance in this matter. In addition to the chart (see below), he writes:

—————————–

Your request for the “standard” cuts involves a bit more work than one might expect, as most orchestras have not performed the work with cuts for over four decades. In order to arrive at some sort of answer, I listened to eight recordings made between 1928 and 1959, since this was the period during which the symphony was almost always performed with cuts. My discovery is that there is not a standard set of cuts, but instead a large number from which conductors have picked and chosen according to their own whims.

In 1919 Nicolai Sokoloff, The Cleveland Orchestra’s first Music Director, went over the score with Rachmaninoff devising cuts to bring the length down to about 46 minutes. Rachmaninoff autographed this score (which has been in the orchestra’s library ever since — unfortunately it has also been used by several conductors in the meantime, many with their own set of cuts marked). Sokoloff recorded this version in 1928, and since Rachmaninoff was involved in the preparation, this version commands some authority. I reconstructed the cuts from listening to this recording while following the marked score (as I did with all other versions).

Eugene Ormandy recorded the work four times (the last time without cuts), and I listened to two of them — from 1934 with the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra and 1959 with the Philadelphia Orchestra. The cuts are almost identical in the two recordings. [A set of parts marked with these cuts, copied from the parts in The Philadelphia Orchestra library, is deposited at the Fleisher Collection at the Free Library of Philadelphia and are available for loan. – Clinton F. Nieweg]

Artur Rodzinski recorded it with the New York Philharmonic in 1945. He also performed it in Cleveland before going to New York, and his cuts are marked in the score mentioned above. They are similar but not always identical to Ormandy’s.

Dimitri Mitropoulos recorded it in 1947 with Minneapolis (where he succeeded Ormandy as Music Director), and like Rodzinski, the cuts are almost identical to Ormandy’s.

Serge Koussevitzky was a close compatriot of Rachmaninoff in pre-revolutionary Russia, and he was a staunch champion of Rachmaninoff’s music during his entire career in Boston. His performance with the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1944 is quite different, with fewer cuts and varying locations.

Rachmaninoff’s music was constantly played in Russia except for a couple of years in the 1930’s, and one must assume that Kurt Sanderling’s recording with the Leningrad Philharmonic, made in 1956, is representative of the cuts employed during the fifty years under consideration. Notice there are no cuts at all in the second and third movements.

Finally I listened to a broadcast dating from around 1946 of Leopold Stokowski conducting the work with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. According to conventional thought, no one during that era did the work without cuts, so one would have expected him to utilize quite a few. Surprisingly he did the work absolutely complete, with not one note excised.

Mention must be made of the Josef Stransky cuts from his performances with the New York Philharmonic, which I have neither seen nor heard. Stransky was the Philharmonic’s Music Director from 1911-1923, and performed the work many times there. Stransky’s cuts supposedly total 29 and by some accounts were approved as well by Rachmaninoff.

Rachmaninoff himself conducted the work numerous times, starting with the premiere in 1908 through his final performance in Moscow in 1914. The programs themselves would indicate that he performed the work complete, but that is only an assumption on my part.

In actual practice some cuts might have to be adjusted one to two beats either way to finish or start a new phrase, and obviously the first movement repeat is not taken.

R.W.

—————————–

Nicolai Sokoloff — The Cleveland Orchestra (1928)

Movement I
17th of 10 – 23rd of 10
8 before 15 – 15
16 before 18 – 18
12 before 20 – 8 before 20
5th of 23 – 15th of 23
8 before 24 – 4 before 24

Movement II
10 before 38 – 40

Movement III
50 – 4 before 51

Movement IV
5th of 61 – 5th of 62
2nd of 68 – 6th of 68
69 – 8th of 69
76 – 4 before 81
8 before 84 – 4 before 84

Eugene Ormandy — Minneapolis Symphony (1934)

Movement I
13 before 4 – 11 before 4
4 before 10 – 10
17th of 10 – 23rd of 10
5th of 13 – 9th of 13
13th of 13 – 15th of 13
14 – 15
16 before 18 – 18
12 before 20 – 4 before 20
5th of 23 – 15th of 23
8 before 24 – 4 before 24
9th of 24 – 5th of 25

Movement II
40 – 42

Movement III
50 – 4 before 51
53 – 55

Movement IV
5th of 61 – 5th of 62
2nd of 68 – 6th of 68
69 – 8th of 69
76 – 4 before 81
8 before 84 – 4 before 84

Dimitri Mitropoulos — Minneapolis Symphony (1947)

Movement I
13 before 4 – 11 before 4
4 before 10 – 10
17th of 10 – 23rd of 10
5th of 13 – 9th of 13
13th of 13 – 15th of 13
14 – 15
16 before 18 – 18
12 before 20 – 4 before 20
5th of 23 – 15th of 23
8 before 24 – 4 before 24
9th of 24 – 5th of 25

Movement II
40 – 42

Movement III
50 – 4 before 51
53 – 6 before 56

Movement IV
5th of 61 – 5th of 62
2nd of 68 – 6th of 68
69 – 8th of 69
76 – 4 before 81
8 before 84 – 4 before 84

Artur Rodzinski — New York Philharmonic (1945)

Movement I
13 before 4 – 11 before 4
4 before 10 – 10
17th of 10 – 23rd of 10
3rd of 13 – 7th of 13
13th of 13 – 15th of 13
14 – 15
16 before 18 – 18
12 before 20 – 6 before 20
5th of 23 – 15th of 23
10 before 24 – 8 before 24
6 before 24 – 4 before 24

Movement II
40 – 42

Movement III
50 – 4 before 51
53 – 6 before 56

Movement IV
5th of 61 – 5th of 62
2nd of 68 – 6th of 68
69 – 8th of 69
76 – 4 before 81
8 before 84 – 4 before 84

Eugene Ormandy —The Philadelphia Orchestra (1959)

Movement I
13 before 4 – 11 before 4
4 before 10 – 10
17th of 10 – 23rd of 10
5th of 13 – 9th of 13
11th of 13 – 13th of 13
14 – 15
16 before 18 – 18
12 before 20 – 4 before 20
5th of 23 – 15th of 23
8 before 24 – 4 before 24
9th of 24 – 5th of 25

Movement II
40 – 42

Movement III
50 – 4 before 51
53 – 55

Movement IV
5th of 61 – 5th of 62
2nd of 68 – 6th of 68
69 – 8th of 69
76 – 4 before 81
8 before 84 – 4 before 84

Serge Koussevitzky — Boston Symphony (1944)

Movement I
3rd of 13 – 7th of 13
13th of 13 – 15th of 13
14 before 20 – 8 before 20
10 before 24 – 8 before 24
6 before 24 – 4 before 24

Movement II
40 – 8 before 43

Movement III
53 – 6 before 56

Movement IV
5th of 61 – 5th of 62
2nd of 68 – 6th of 68
69 – 8th of 69
76 – 4 before 81

Kurt Sanderling — Leningrad Philharmonic (1956)

Movement I
8 before 20 – 4 before 20
8 before 24 – 4 before 24

Movement II
none

Movement III
none

Movement IV
5th of 61 – 5th of 62
2nd of 68 – 6th of 68
8 before 69 – 69
2 before 73 – 73
82 – 5th of 84

Stransky cuts from the New York Philharmonic
29 cuts – details not known

Rachmaninoff’s cuts as listed in Threlfall, Robert and Geoffrey Norris. “A Catalogue of the Compositions of S. Rachmaninoff” Scolar Press: London, 1982.

(NB: Numbers are rehearsal numbers)

Movement I
after 3, first 2 bars of Allegro moderato
4 bars before 1
first ending and repeat, after 10
6 bars at Tempo I after 10
14-15
8 bars at 19+9 bars
a tempo after 23 until Piu mosso; bars 5-8 after Piu mosso
8 bars at 24+9 bars

Movement II
40 to 17 after 42

Movement III
8 bars at 50
1 beat before 53 to 2 beats before 55 (start again on pickup to 55)

Movement IV
61 + 9 bars to 62 + 9 bars
7 bars at 69
76 to 4 bars before 81

————–

Clinton F. Nieweg, retired Principal Librarian of the Philadelphia Orchestra, is owner of ~Proof Purr-fect Research~ and freelance consultant for conductors, librarians and performers.