Rachmaninov: Aleko; the miserly knight; Francesca; Da Rimini: three one-act operas.

LEIFERKUS, GULEGHINA, CHERNOV, LARIN, Aleksashkin, Levinsky, Kotscherga, Von Otter, et al., Gothenburg Opera Chorus, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Neeme Jarvi, conductor. DG 453 452-2 (3 CDs). ***(*)

IN A NOVEL AND DARING BIT OF PROGRAM-ming, Deutsche Grammaphon has issued a fascinating three CD set that includes all of Rachmaninov's one-act operas: Aleko (1892), The Miserly Knight (1905) and Francesca da Rimini (1905). If you have not heard of them, however, do not be alarmed. In Russia, according to one source, it is only Aleko that is given with any regularity. As far as the West is concerned, one occasionally encounters the famous Cavatina (from Aleko) in concert or on disc, but that's about it.

As a student at the Moscow Conservatory, the young Rachmaninov studied not only piano, but counterpoint, harmony and composition (with Anton Arensky). As part of the requirements for graduation, he was asked to write an opera. Although Rachmaninov was only 19 when he completed Aleko, the score is rather skillfully written.

The prescribed libretto (based upon Alexander Pushkin's The Gypsies), although it bears many similarities to Leoncavallo's Pagliacci and Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana, clearly lacks the theatricality of its Italian models. An old-fashioned "numbers" opera (containing 13 set pieces), it is also highly derivative of earlier Russian masters--Tchaikovsky in particular.

Rachmaninov next began work on Francesca da Rimini (with a libretto by Tchaikovsky's brother, Modest), but he eventually put it aside in favor of another story by Pushkin called The Miserly Knight, which he set virtually verbatim.

Francesca da Rimini had the longest and most difficult gestation period of the three, largely due to the composer's dissatisfaction with the libretto). Based upon Canto V of Dante's Inferno, it is an uneven, oddly balanced affair that deals with Paolo and Francesca who are condemned to the Inferno for eternity for their adulterous love.

Of the three, it is The Miserly Knight that I find the most satisfying musically and dramatically. Although nothing much happens, it shares a dark, brooding quality and musical tension not dissimilar to that found in Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle. The Knight's central monologue, a psychological mini-drama lasting a little over 20 minutes, is exceptionally well conceived and written.

Given the beauty of Rachmaninov's many songs for voice and piano, one should not be surprised at the conviction of vocal writing found in these three works. What is astonishing, however, is how theatrical and dramatic his orchestral writing could be, even with an inferior libretto.

As for this new recording, the singing is extremely persuasive and largely idiomatic, although I found English tenor Ian Caley, in the character role of the Jewish money-lender, to be less so. Highlights include Sergei Leiferkus singing Aleko's famous Cavatina, and Sergei Aleksashkin's account of the miserly Knight's monologue. And what champagne casting to have Anne Sofie von Otter in the walk-on part of an old gypsy woman. Neeme Jarvi conducts this music as if he has been doing so all his life. His orchestra, the Gothenburg Symphony, plays exceedingly well. --Neil Crory