Hershey Felder Presents NICHOLAS, ANNA, AND SERGEI Review — Cinematic Musical Bio of Rachmaninoff

HERSHEY FELDER PRESENTS a Dramatic Telling of Rachmaninoff’s Life Story

Felder as Rachmaninoff tells his life story to Tsar Nicholas II, rather than to the audience, or to some unseen listener, as he has in his stage performances. Sergei begins speaking of his childhood when he was sent to study at the Moscow Conservatory under the demanding teacher, Nikolai Zverev. Felder as Rachmaninoff recounts how he ultimately rebelled against his martinet instructor, and left the conservatory but went on to achieve a number of early successes before the disastrous premiere of his first symphony.  That brought on a depression that would last for three years. With therapy that included hypnosis, he emerged from depression and went on to compose his immensely popular Piano Concerto #2. That launched a career that kept him busy composing and conducting as well as playing piano in concerts. Rachmaninoff’s success eventually led to an invitation to visit the Tsar at one of his palaces, in the event he considered the capstone of his experience as a Russian.

From there, Felder/Rachmaninoff jumps the story to 1917 and the beginnings of the Russian Revolution.  We see, through staged dramatic flashbacks, the final days of the Tsar’s rule and the assassination of, it is believed, the entire royal family. This is underscored with Felder’s performance of a long excerpt from Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto #2 - aloud, often dissonant, and hard-driving selection, which evokes the composer's intense anger and sense of loss of his homeland and way of life. It's an emotional and powerful pinnacle of this play, in this reviewer’s opinion though only the midpoint of Nicholas, Anna, and Sergei.

The Bolshevik Revolution soon leads to Rachmaninoff's emigration from Russia to America. Exiled from the homeland he loves, Rachmaninoff finds himself unable to compose, and his creative output in the coming years is greatly diminished. He briefly finds hope, learning of a young woman in Germany who claims to be Anastasia, the youngest daughter of the Tsar, who may have escaped the assassination of her family, thus leaving her as the only surviving member of the Romanoffs. Rachmaninoff makes plans to bring her to America in hopes that she will help him reconnect spiritually to Mother Russia, but as we know from history, this Anna was proven not to be a descendent of the Romanoffs. Rachmaninoff spent the rest of his life pining for his beloved Russia, an emotion we see through Felder’s body language – a certain weakness in his posture and closeups that reveal a joyless, almost inert face.

NICHOLAS, ANNA, AND SERGEI is a Feast for Piano Lovers

You will likely agree that Rachmaninoff’s canon is an exceptional showcase for Felder, who is an accomplished concert pianist. The Russian composer's works for piano are among the most complex and demanding pieces for pianists, and unlike the Felder stage productions, on film, we get to see closeups of Felder’s fingers on the Steinway keyboard. In addition to Rachmaninoff’s intricate pieces for piano, we hear snippets of romantic melodies that are accessible enough to have been adapted into American pop songs, as Felder’s narration explains. Music lovers of a certain age will recognize a theme from Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 as Eric Carmen’s All by Myself or a melodic line from his Symphony No. 2 as Carmen’s Never Gonna Fall in Love Again. The former song is currently heard in TV commercials for Expedia.

WHEN:

Now, Open Run

WHERE:

Streaming on demand from Hershey Felder Presents: Live from Florence website

Images courtesy of Hershey Felder Presents, Marco Badiani, and The Florentine.

TICKETS:

$55

For tickets and more information visit the Hershey Felder Presents: Live from Florence website.