Sergei RACHMANINOFF: Piano Concerto No. 3
Yefim Bronfman, Piano
Vienna Philharmonic
Valery Gerghiev, conductor
Rachmaninoff's final piano concerto, the Third, or more popularly known as Rach3, holds the distinction as the most difficult concerto in the entire piano repertoire (others may disagree, of course). This is apparent in the final movement where the soloist negotiates the leaping big chords rapidly, it's the closest you can get to setting the piano on fire on stage.
Rachmaninoff built his career as a virtouso and sometimes this overshadows his being a composer. Although fiercely Russian, his music follows the line of Tchaikovsky, whose western influences in style can be traced back to the German Romantics, rather than the nationalist school composed of Glinka, Balakirev, Rimsky-Korsakov, Cui and Mussogorsky.
Again, as in his other two concertos for the instrument, Rach3 is characterized by a hyper romantic theme with a clear melodic line that permeates the three-movement work and the piano writing is highly effective and impressive for the audience. To look for musical innovations in this work is futile: Rachmaninoff is no Schoenberg or Stravinsky and I don't think he even cared about the developments in 20th century music, such as the emergence of the polytonality, motoric rythmic patterns and unabashed dissonance for its own sake.
While his contemporaries like Stravinsky (his Le Sacre du Printemps caused such a stir and controversy during its premiere in Paris), Schoenberg (the audience went berserk during a performance of his music in Vienna) and Webern (his music was banned by the Nazis) tracked new and unchartered territories and subjected themselves to intense criticism and ridicule because of the splitting dissonances and simply put, unintelligible music, Rachmaninoff comfortably sailed off in the Chopinesque-Lisztian High Romanticism style. Which makes him highly popular to this day. Who hasn't heard of the 18th Variation on a Theme from Paganini anyway?
As I have explained before, his style is extremely personal. One reason why parallels can be made between him and Chopin is that both have aristocratic tendencies and their music express a certain longing: both of whom were forced to go in exile, after all. The complex portions marked by extreme technical virtousic demands evoke visions of leaving bodies. In fact, it is easy to see that his music encapsulates the anguish of a severed soul.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Yefim Bronfman, Piano
Vienna Philharmonic
Valery Gerghiev, conductor
Rachmaninoff's final piano concerto, the Third, or more popularly known as Rach3, holds the distinction as the most difficult concerto in the entire piano repertoire (others may disagree, of course). This is apparent in the final movement where the soloist negotiates the leaping big chords rapidly, it's the closest you can get to setting the piano on fire on stage.
Rachmaninoff built his career as a virtouso and sometimes this overshadows his being a composer. Although fiercely Russian, his music follows the line of Tchaikovsky, whose western influences in style can be traced back to the German Romantics, rather than the nationalist school composed of Glinka, Balakirev, Rimsky-Korsakov, Cui and Mussogorsky.
Again, as in his other two concertos for the instrument, Rach3 is characterized by a hyper romantic theme with a clear melodic line that permeates the three-movement work and the piano writing is highly effective and impressive for the audience. To look for musical innovations in this work is futile: Rachmaninoff is no Schoenberg or Stravinsky and I don't think he even cared about the developments in 20th century music, such as the emergence of the polytonality, motoric rythmic patterns and unabashed dissonance for its own sake.
While his contemporaries like Stravinsky (his Le Sacre du Printemps caused such a stir and controversy during its premiere in Paris), Schoenberg (the audience went berserk during a performance of his music in Vienna) and Webern (his music was banned by the Nazis) tracked new and unchartered territories and subjected themselves to intense criticism and ridicule because of the splitting dissonances and simply put, unintelligible music, Rachmaninoff comfortably sailed off in the Chopinesque-Lisztian High Romanticism style. Which makes him highly popular to this day. Who hasn't heard of the 18th Variation on a Theme from Paganini anyway?
As I have explained before, his style is extremely personal. One reason why parallels can be made between him and Chopin is that both have aristocratic tendencies and their music express a certain longing: both of whom were forced to go in exile, after all. The complex portions marked by extreme technical virtousic demands evoke visions of leaving bodies. In fact, it is easy to see that his music encapsulates the anguish of a severed soul.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
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