Lost Rachmaninoff Tragedy ‘Monna Vanna’ Gets Its Day

RACHMANINOFF: “Monna Vanna,” Act I; Piano Concerto No. 4, Opus 40 (1927 version). Seth McCoy, Sherrill Milnes, Blythe Walker, William Black (piano); Icelandic Opera Chorus; Iceland Symphony, conducted by Igor Buketoff. Chandos CHAN-8987. These two premiere recordings of problematic works introduce the world to the only completed act of Rachmaninoff’s Maeterlinck-inspired tragedy, orchestrated and Englished by Buketoff in 1984. Rachmaninoff started the work in 1907 and left off composition after the playwright denied him the rights. The 42-minute episode, in which a wife must give herself in adultery to save Renaissance Pisa, depends on a flexible arioso to make its musical points. Despite a committed performance (especially from baritone Milnes as the understandably jealous husband) here, the world has not lost a masterpiece. Black offers crystalline pianism in the revised concerto, but even Rachmaninoff’s re-scoring and recasting of the finale can’t elevate the work much beyond stepchild status.