Piano Concerto No. 3 (Rachmaninoff)

The 3rd Piano Concerto Op 30 in D minor composed Sergei Rachmaninoff in 1909 on the estate Iwanowka.

Form

In his three-movement form, it is based on the form that was common for a solo concert in Romanticism.

Allegro ma non tanto

The first movement begins after a two orchestral introduction to the famous theme, which is introduced by the piano in octaves, which runs through the entire concert. Due to its wistful character, his simplicity and his supposedly very Russian sound many thought the theme for the processing of a Russian folk song or hymn. This was contradicted by the composer decided by saying about his subject " It just composed by himself. " All movement is in sonata form, the recapitulation extends only to the first topic.

Alternative cadenzas

Rachmaninoff wrote later, a second cadenza for the first movement, which is now printed as standard cadence in the music and is played by about two -thirds of the pianist, because ( as quickly ) is simpler and shorter and Rachmaninoff himself always played only this cadence. Vladimir Horowitz said: " The cadence prepares the end of the concert. The [ original ] cadence is an ending in itself. It is not good to end the concert, before it's too late! " Though Russian pianists prefer typically the klanggewaltigere original cadenza, which is now printed as ossia. Some pianists mix the cadences (eg André Watts ); i.d.R. is started with the faster and transferred several measures before Presto in the original.

Intermezzo: Adagio

The second sentence in song form begins with a moody typical Russian theme, which is followed by the opening theme in a different form. Rachmaninoff wrote the Più vivo section in an alternate version ( Ossia ), which is even more difficult and is almost never played, especially since it already is in the deleted passage. The end of the Intermezzo contains an incorporated fast scherzo part in F sharp minor ( Poco più mosso ), which follows on from four-movement concert.

Finale: Alla breve

The second sentence goes without a break in the final finale in sonata form above, the clock change from 3/4-time on Alla breve and the changed atmosphere make it clear that this has started a new sentence. The final sentence of the introductory piano cadenza is occasionally criticized for being a little too conventional. The final paragraph Vivacissimo whose victory anthem is composed of the side issues of the 1st and the 3rd movement, is the highlight of the entire concert, which ends in the intoxicating sounds of a radiant D major. Looking at the simple beginning of the concerto in D minor, one can see that the entire work to the principle of " per aspera ad astra " follows. Also, the finale contains two Ossia sites which complicate the regular rate even further and are correspondingly rare played: a 7 bars before the beginning of the recapitulation (played eg in Kissin's recording) and the beginning of the Stretta with 4 eighths instead of a quarter note triplet ( as a sound only when André Watts ).

Deletions

The concert is min with a length of 40-45. ( depending on the choice of the cadence and tempo ) for a piano concerto relatively long. Therefore, Rachmaninov took here later, as in many of his longer works, cuts before: ( precedente tempo, ma un poco più mosso ) The end of the second theme group and two bars in the cadenza of the first movement (bar 10 and 9 before sample number 19), a line in the middle of the second set ( Più vivo to 1 clock before a tempo, più mosso ) and two strokes in the third. The first of the strokes in the third set ( Meno mosso, sample number 45 to 5 bars before 47) eliminated the entire theme in the exposure so that the same is first introduced in the Reprise! The cuts can be found in all Rachmaninov's own recording that originally appeared on five shellac records, but are now applied only sporadically. They are not even identified in the piano reduction. In concert Rachmaninoff also noticed only his second stroke in the final ( Meno mosso, a tempo, 2 bars after number 52 to number 54 before ), because he had come to the view that there there are too many E-flat major interludes.

Occupation

2,2,2,2 - 4,2,3,1 - timp, perc *, pno ( solo), st

(*) Basin, bass drum, tambourine

History

The concert was first performed on November 28, 1909 in New York by the New York Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Walter Damrosch. The composer, who had practiced the concert during the Atlantic crossing on a silent keyboard, played the solo part. Already on 16 January 1910, there was a revival in Carnegie Hall - with Gustav Mahler on the podium. The first performance in Russia took place in Moscow on 4 April 1910. After the premiere, the music critics were divided about the work and responded rather modest, it was in the New York Herald after the performance to be read with Mahler, although Rachmaninoff's work was one of the " most interesting piano concerts of recent years", but suffer it to a little its " excess length ". The concert was just as fast as popular as his popular Piano Concerto No. 2 and is now the standard repertoire of all great pianists. It is one of the most difficult piano concertos and provides very high technical demands on the pianist; According to calculations, it is by all the great piano concertos with the most notes per second in the piano part. Józef Hofmann, the pianist, the Rachmaninoff dedicated his concert, it led on the grounds that it is " not for him ", never on. Presumably bothered Hofmann, who, though an excellent pianist, but had small hands, to the often wide handles.

New popularity by the movie Shine

The 1996, directed by Scott Hicks and Geoffrey Rush turned starring film Shine ( German title Shine - Sleeping in Light ) took the 3rd Piano Concerto a huge boost in popularity. The film tells the true story of Australian pianist David Helfgott, who suffered a nervous breakdown after a concert in London, in which he plays the Piano Concerto No. 3 for his schizoaffective disorder, through which he spends many years in psychiatric hospitals until his slowly takes great love to life and creates his comeback. Through the film not only won the 3rd Piano Concerto, which runs through the whole movie, enormous fame, so it is probably better known as Rachmaninov's 2nd Concerto meanwhile, also Helfgott was made famous by the movie. In the following years, a recording of the 3rd Piano Concerto with Helfgott reached No. 1 on the classical charts in several countries, although critics found little good to the recording.

Recordings

Since the 3rd Piano Concerto is one of the standard repertoire of most pianists who are up to the technical difficulties, there are currently nearly 200 commercial recordings. Rachmaninoff himself has it 1939/1940 recorded, accompanied by the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Eugene Ormandy. The first commercial recording was that of Vladimir Horowitz in 1930 for His Master's Voice, which earned it commercially again in 1951 with Fritz Reiner and his 50th stage anniversary live in 1978 with Eugene Ormandy. Three more live recordings 1941-1978 complete his discography of this show. Rachmaninoff Horowitz attested that this " strikes with the violence and greed of a tiger. He has swallowed as a whole, he had the courage, the urgency and the daring ." Most studio recordings fall to Vladimir Ashkenazy; to its four versions as a pianist 1963-1985 he accompanied in 1994 Jean -Yves Thibaudet as conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra. Ashkenazy is also the only pianist, who recorded both the small ( in 1963 ) and the large cadence (in the three other recordings ).