Rach 23-5 Revisited

[steve jones]

You might remember a while back, I was after the scale used in the first few bars of the B theme in Rachmaninov's 23 - 5 prelude.

The scale is a funny one, sounds modal to me, a little like the phrygian dominant. But none of us could come up with a source for this little bugger!

In C, the scale goes:

C, Db, E, F, G, Ab, Bb

A sharp eye will notice that this is the fifth mode of F harmonic minor:

F, G, Ab, Bb, C, Db, E


Anyway, after some hunting I found out that is actually called the 'Mela Vakulabharanam' or Harmonic Major inverse.

And just when you thought I couldnt get any more anal, lol. 

BB

[steve jones]

Another thing - this piece is actually in G minor. The B section modulates to D (the dominant), yet retains the scale intervals of G minor, resulting in the D Harmonic Major. This is interesting as Id never considered this before - modulating to a related key but making it modal to the home key.

Very clever old boy! Looks like Rach wasnt all fingers after all 

SJ

[princessdecadence]

I gave up on this piece but am still taking notes