Sergei Rachmaninoff: Vocalise, Op. 34 No. 14 | Trevor Nuckols, horn • Linda Avery, piano

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Vocalise, Op. 34 No. 14

Sergei Rachmaninoff, composer
Trevor Nuckols, horn
Linda Avery, piano
Seann Avery, sound engineer

Recorded on August 13, 2025

This performance features my custom B♭ Alexander horn (1950), a beautifully balanced instrument whose singing tone and responsiveness I have long relied upon in both solo and chamber repertoire.

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873–1943) was among the last great composer–pianists of the Romantic tradition. A graduate of the Moscow Conservatory, he achieved distinction not only as a composer but as one of the most commanding pianists of his era, celebrated for a tone of exceptional richness and a mastery of phrasing that seemed to speak without words. His works are marked by a deeply personal lyricism, a gift for expansive melody, and a harmonic language rooted in the late nineteenth century yet inflected with his own unmistakable voice.

The Vocalise, Op. 34 No. 14, is the final number in a set of Fourteen Songs composed in 1912. Uniquely within the set, it is written without text, scored for a single vowel sound sustained throughout. In the original version for soprano or tenor and piano, the absence of words focuses the listener’s attention entirely on the shape of the melody and the colours of the accompaniment. The work was quickly taken up by instrumentalists, and arrangements now exist for almost every orchestral instrument, including the horn.

In structure, the Vocalise is a single arch of melody, rising from a tranquil opening through a series of intensifications to a radiant climax, and then subsiding to stillness. The harmonic language is quintessential Rachmaninoff: rich in chromatic inflection, yet always anchored by a clear tonal centre. The piano part is more than mere accompaniment; its undulating textures and sustained harmonies create an atmosphere of luminous melancholy against which the solo line floats.

For the horn, the Vocalise offers an ideal vehicle for sustained, unbroken phrasing and for exploring the instrument’s ability to project a human-like voice. Its tessitura lies comfortably within the horn’s most resonant register, allowing the performer to sustain the long lines with both breadth and subtle dynamic shading. The result is music that speaks with directness and emotional clarity, without the need for a single word.