Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 2 / Rhapsody On A Theme Of Paganini

Description

Sergey Rachmaninov (1873 - 1943)Piano Concerto No.2 in C Minor, Opus 18 Moderato Adagio sostenuto Allegro scherzando Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Opus 43The Russian composer and pianist Sergey Rachmaninov was born in 1873,the son of aristocratic parents. His father's improvidence, however, was tolead to a change in the fortunes of the family, when increasing debts led tothe sale of one estate after another, followed by removal to an apartment inSt. Petersburg. It was in that city that Rachmaninov, at the age of nine,entered the Conservatory on a scholarship.The subsequent separation of his parents and failure in general subjectexaminations was to bring about Rachmaninov's move to the Moscow Conservatory,where he was under the strict supervision of Nikolay Zverev. In Moscow he wasto win considerable success as time went on, both as a performer and as acomposer, although it was the second of these roles that seemed likely to bethe more important.The Communist Revolution of 1917 was to bring many changes. While somemusicians remained in Russia, others chose temporary or permanent exile.Rachmaninov took the latter course, and found himself obliged to rely on hisvery considerable gifts as a pianist in order to support himself and hisfamily. At the same time he was to continue working as a conductor. Compositioninevitably had to take second or third place, and it was principally as aconcert pianist, one of the greatest of his time, that he became known toaudiences.In 1897 Rachmaninov's first symphony had been performed in St.Petersburg under the direction of Glazunov, who, according to his wife's lateraccount, was drunk at the time. The work was badly played and received ahostile critical reception. Cesar Cui, indeed, a surviving member of theMightly Handful, the five leading Russian nationalist composers, described itas a student programme symphony of the Seven Plagues of Egypt, an unflatteringjudgement that contributed to the composer's depression and loss of confidence.The C Minor Piano Concertowas written in 1900 and 1901 and is dedicated to Dr. Nikolay Dahl, under whomRachmaninov had undergone a course of psychiatric treatment that restored hiscreative urge. The second and third movements of a work that was to prove to beone of the most popular romantic piano concertos, were completed in the summerof 1900 and the first movement in the following year. In November 1901 it wasperformed in Moscow under the direction of Rachmaninov's cousin, AlexanderZiloti, with the composer as soloist and was received with the greatestenthusiasm. The work has retained its position in the repertoire, although ithas at the same time served as a model for regrettably vulgar imitations thathave nothing of the innovative inspiration of the original.The first movement of the concerto opens with eight dramatic chordsfrom the piano, followed by the first theme from the strings, accompanied bypiano arpeggios. The second subject, played by the soloist, is introduced by aph