Sergei Rachmaninoff ‒ Piano Concerto No.1, Op.1
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 มิ.ย. 2024
- Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873 - 1943), Piano Concerto No. 1 in F-sharp minor, Op. 1 (1891, rev. 1917)
Performed by Simon Trpceski, pianist, with Vasily Petrenko conducting the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, recorded in 2010.
00:00 - No. 1: Vivace
12:20 - No. 2: Andante
18:55 - No. 3: Allegro vivace
Rachmaninov was not quite eighteen when he began work on his First Piano Concerto. At the time he still had a year of Conservatoire study ahead of him, during which his tasks would be to compose his first opera and his first symphony, these being Arensky’s conditions for accelerated graduation. The symphony would in fact be delayed several years, but Tchaikovsky’s support for the resulting opera (Aleko) led to publishing agreements and a rapid opening-up of professional opportunities.
The first documented mention of the Concerto seems to be on 26 March 1891, in a letter to another of his numerous cousins, and its completion followed on 6 July, after a month of near-solitude at Ivanovka. Rachmaninov compensated for his ongoing lassitude, or so he claimed, by composing the second and third movements in a two-and-a-half day burst, working from five o’clock in the morning until eight in the evening. The score carried a dedication to Ziloti.
Rachmaninov performed the first movement at a student concert on 17 March 1892, in the Small Room of the Hall of Nobility. On that occasion the student orchestra was conducted by Vasily Safonov-by then Director of the Conservatoire-who was used to making corrections and cuts in his students’ work. This time, however, Safonov found himself bowing to the will of the fledgling composer. It is not entirely clear when, or even if, Rachmaninov played the work in its entirety (though others certainly did so) before he shelved it for revision. It was to be September 1917 before he finally got round to that task. Rachmaninov set the finishing date to the revised score on 10 November, just weeks after the storming of the Winter Palace and the enthronement of the Bolshevik regime, whose baleful effects he would flee six weeks later (though he had been laying plans even before the October Revolution), never to return to Russia. He first performed the new work on 29 January 1919 in New York with the Russian Symphony Society Orchestra, conducted by Modest Altschuler.
Rachmaninov was an inveterate rewriter. But he took the red pen to his First Piano Concerto more radically than to any other of his works (the case of the Fourth Concerto runs it close). The central tutti of the first movement and the first half of the cadenza were newly composed, and the finale was just as extensively recast. Among the excised material was much that openly declared a debt to Grieg’s Piano Concerto.
That model can still be detected behind the opening orchestral fanfare and pianistic flourishes. This is an amplified version of Grieg’s straightforward tonics and dominants, Nordic candour traded in for Slavonic melodrama. The orchestra then launches into one of Rachmaninov’s signature swooning lyrical themes, immediately picked up by the piano. Still shadowing the Grieg Concerto, the piano continues with darting figurations, before giving way to another orchestral song-theme. The largely sequentially constructed development section with rhapsodic breaks, the piano-led reprise, and the hypertrophic cadenza all fall into the pattern established by Grieg. But the devil is in the detail, and especially in its revised version this movement asserts its individuality by means of its ecstatic waywardness.
One of Grieg’s closing slow movement ideas supplies Rachmaninov with the opening of his comparatively modest Andante. This is marked by the piano’s improvisatory dreaminess, the quintessence of Romantic rhapsody: healing, as it were, all past longings and allowing the hero of the Concerto-the music’s personality, mediated by the soloist, with which we are invited to identify-to shake off the fetters of the past. Rachmaninov’s instinct for decorative passagework and for inspired harmonic deflections and balancing returns shines through. Now only the final cadences remind us of the music’s Griegian paternity.
Concerto finales are by tradition brilliant, physically exhilarating affairs, which is one reason why the symphonic scherzo is usually dispensable. This finale is no different. But perhaps compensating for the fact that the opening ideas are flashy and rather empty, it is the lyrical second subject that brings the movement into focus. Once again it is Rachmaninov’s genius for variation and renewal that keeps the structure alive, rather than any deeper-lying compositional strategies. And by 1917, when he was putting the Concerto into its definitive shape, he was unrivalled in his ability to ratchet up audience excitement over the last pages. - เพลง
how an 18 year old even had the ideas for composing this masterpiece is beyond me.
This is not the original version from when he was 18. It's very different than the original by the musicality and cool ideas are the same for the most part. That's proof it can't be learned. It's from his being.
he already had his own mature style in opus 1
Honestly modern life has so much distractions that you can't really shine in your interests anymore and especially not this young. This was quite common back then - mastering your craft this. young. I hate modernity so much everyday more than the last.
@@Ziad3195 Great point
@@Ziad3195 ain't no way you seriously believe this
I know this is overshadowed by No. 2 and No. 3, but this is amazing and criminally underrated.
Magnificent Comment...
It’s every bit as good. The cadenza is an absolute firecracker. And to think he wrote the business end of it when he was 18. What a man.
@@uscjd2004 its the second version of the concerto written way after he is18.....
@pyrotechnic5254 I don't recall anyone asking. How about instead of diminishing others opinions in favor for your own you go and listen to your boring classics.
@pyrotechnic5254 : OMG. Rachmaninov & Prokofiev are at the top
of my list. I've been a Rach fan for about 40+ yrs. However, each to
his own (LOL).
I don’t know what it is about these Rach concertos but none of them feel like pieces of music in the traditional sense; rather journeys within his mind told through the medium of music. It’s as if with each one you can forget that it’s a composition and just experience the raw emotion he creates
i know! the other day my brother, who is not into classical music, told me he stumbled on the 2nd concerto on youtube and he said he just sat there and listened to the whole thing! he said he couldn't explain it, it was just so good, it sucked me in!
a world without art and music is no world at all
I look for music to feel the power and emotion of the work
@@thai-pc4jy my mom calls rachmaninoff "crapmaninoff"... its all just random notes to her... so there's that
@@Bevsworld04 Thats awful... he's my fav composer.
Yeah, I agree. Similar to a lot of Berlioz' works, a prime example being symphony fantastique (im sure you know what I mean)
17:35 best moment of the 2nd movement, crystal-like tone, amazing harmony, adding the bright, light running by the flute, like floating in the sky of a wonderland full with imagination. Rachmaninov was truly a genius in both piano and composing
It remainds me kinda Harry Potter
I particularly like this part in this recording as well - those staccato notes after each group really make it I think
@@sebastianbaynes9452 I've searched for another pianist who plays it staccato and found none! playing it legato takes away the magic :(
Like anime
@@luizg8034Respectfully I disagree! I find it actually more mysterious and airy played legato :)
Oh my god i love the second movement in this concerto, underrated masterpiece
Absolutely agree.
17:05 to the end of the mov't... just can't get enough of that!!
@@JonathanKofi haven't heard the staccatos presented so clearly before! at that section
6:22 gives me chills
17:35 THAT FLUTE! Absolutely magnificent!
It’s my favorite
You are talking about the line that is not in the 2 piano score right?
I feel privileged just for the fact that Rachmaninoff existed, that he composed wonderful masterpieces and that, fortunately, I can listen to them. His way of composing, his music makes me perceive the dimension of infinity that I've always been afraid of. Please, stop doing whatever you're doing and listen to its sea of notes ........ Rachmaninoff is simply immense.
Ok
I just realized the low notes at 11:13 are the first three notes to Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C-sharp minor.
Not the same but close
@@donnytello1544 they're the exact same. A - G# - C#
@@jagp135 nvmd your right, I just heard it wron g
@@jagp135 its not the same harmonic outline tho
0:00 - Vivace
12:20 - Andante
18:55 - Allegro Vivace
17:00
11:10 - 11:50 is one of my favourite moments in any piano concerto. This part of the cadenza is so amazing well written, especially 11:24 with those luscious chords reinstating the theme! Such a badass moment in piano writing, Rachmaninoff's piano cadenzas are works of art 😍
Those chords are so... lush
very basic by his own standards though, bortkiewicz does it better in his piano concerto no1
the staccato at 9:23 on the 3 notes before the accented chords...literal perfection
Second movement is underrated as hell. It feels so nostalgic and beautiful, it just feels like nature. Imagine being in Germany enjoying the spring, watching nature, such a good feeling
Ugh, I could listen to that _maestoso_ passage from the 1st movement's cadenza forever. 😍😩
Christian Vennemann time stamp?
@@ban9nas177 The cadenza itself starts at 9:13, and the _maestoso_ passage starts at 11:25.
From now on I will always hear the word maestoso in italics
@@OfficialWorldChampion Fun fact: I had been misspelling _maestoso_ without the first s for the longest time.
omg gaspard
A lot happened in music between 1891 and 1917 and Rachmaninoff's revisions reflect that in much of the harmonic subtlety his musical language had acquired. But the earlier version is truly remarkable coming from an 18-year old.
Just think, Rachmaninoff composed this when he was 18...
Really? How Do u know?
@@clarapanas6657 PianoStreet and also through his composer page on Wikipedia
I was playing with mud when I was 18
@@jf2602 right?
He actually revised it in 1917. So, yes, he first composed it at age 18, but a lot of the parts that you like may have come from the revised version after he gained much more compositional experience.
the second movement is an absolute gem, especially the Ravelien Coda... written 30 years before Ravel's Concerto in G!
This version is from 14 years before Ravel's concerto. Your point still stands 💁♂
The modulation beginning at 15:35 is heart-stoppingly gorgeous.
22:52 to the end of that whole section is just some of the gorgeous writing I've ever heard
Scriabinesque
@@estebanabad2795 nice name
The Andante from 17:05 is simply glorious! Thank you for uploading. :)
+tomekkobialka I completely agree. I've been listening to the whole 2nd movement over and over. In fact this is probably my favourite concerto by him. That moment is my favourite too all the way to the end with those delightful cascading chords.
staccato + legato! yes! masterful, the whole thing.
I adore it! And the 1890 version is also amazing! But it's rare to find it nowadays unfortunately :(
22.13 even more sublime
Reviving this comment, but yes. I've heard numerous recordings and no one seems to quite nail the semi-staccato like he does. The phrasing is absolutely phenomenal.
2番より後に作られているが、実によく練られた構成。ⅰ10:40～憧れと切なさのこもった密集和音の連打のカデンツァ、ⅱ 13:54 媚薬のようなメロディ。16:47 宝石のちりばめられた、もはやこの世のものとも思われぬ三度と半音階のパッセージの組み合わせの間を縫ってオケがしたたり落ちる。アシュケナージがここをもっと蠱惑的に弾いている。Ⅲ22:30ここも艶やかな艶っぽいメロディ。ゲルバーが「ラフマニノフは麻薬だ」と言っていたのを思い出す。25:25人生肯定的なアグレッシブなオケのテーマの中をピアノが上から下まで縦横に技巧の限りを尽くして駆け巡り、最後は天上に昇天するような勢いである。
I just wanted to say that the second movement is sublime
Love how the 2nd movement was interpreted here. This is such a wonderful concerto and among my favourites to put me in a good mood.
The moment from 6:08 to 7:16 takes me to another dimension!
21:02 what a beautiful surprise of glorious tempo and melodic contrast. Incredible. The entire section of this part is beyond words how hauntingly soulful this melody is sung by the piano.
I can't stop listening to 21:06-21:41.
I can’t stop listening to 22:52
My favourite of his 4. That violin solo in the 1st movement before the big cadenza is just magical, esp in that key
Rachmaninoff is incredible. This is personally my favorite piano concerto by him. The second movement is magical.
I can’t bear the beauty of 22:39.
I'm pretty sure rach added that section later in life (he revised this concerto in the 30s) because those chord progressions that come towards the end of that phrase sound very late-rach to me
How does anyone conceive something so beautiful?
I personally can’t bear the beauty of 22:52 Edit: the chord right on 23:04 also just hits me for some reason and i love it
Mr.Columbo ..I inhale at this point it's so beautiful
For a sec i thot you said you couldnt hear the beauty.
I for one like this concerto a lot.ought to be played more often.
8:36 is probably one of the most beautiful moments I've heard from Rach, same with 25:40
I love that too! And Scriabin also
This concert is a beautiful one . So pitty for underrated.
and the entire second movement esp starting from 17:04
3:28 is just wonderful ah
This is the perfect recording! What a surprise, I was not aware of! Thank you so much!
Genius Rach chords at 17:59 !
How can you not love Rachmaninoff
Rachmaninoff was a genius!
He was beyond a genius
HE WAS A MUSICAL GENIUS AND MASTER OF RYTHM I N HIS MUSICAL WORKS AS OF ALL HIS PIANOCONCERTOS!
SHUT YOUR EYES AND LISTEN TO HIS MASTER-PIECES!
19:06 How do you even compose something like this??
Ikr lol. I guess it’s alternating between C#7, Am and Fm?
This reminded me of the red riding hood at the end of the middle section
@@dz6374 The root of the chord is moving down in major 3rds to disrupt the tonality. Rachmaninoff did Coltrane changes first!
@@CalebRen Looool yes he did!
@@CalebRen well, I think the elusiveness of the meter is actually more destabilising than the chord progression, which is really a highly ornamented Neapolitan sixth progression (the G natural being the inverted seventh); it feels like a a 4/4 bar with an extra quaver (if one hears the triplets as regular quavers, which is what the heavy accent on the second note implies)... then he follows that with an even more confusing 12/8, omg
RACHMANINOV's piano concerti are my favorites ! The first is so underrated though... it feels even more modern than the following ones, i wholeheartedly love this one
That might be because this one was revised in 1917 (which is what you're hearing now). The original was mich more dissonant and clearly want written by the Rach we know today
... and to join in with the magic moment times... 6.07 to 6.45 for me... had an 'ooo' moment in that section. I have heard this before but now really paying attention to it so may find other 'ooo' moments as I explore. Rachmaninoff is breathtaking :)
The intro of the 2nd movement gives me goosebumps! So beautiful!
1st - - 00:39 01:11 01:00 01:54 02:42 03:06 05:22 *06:50 07:39 *08:26 *10:30 *11:24
2nd - - *13:39 15:05 *16:39
3rd - - 20:03 21:06 *22:12 *23:07 25:14
In other words, the whole thing. lol :) yeah me too
This is my best love of all the Rachmaninoff Piano Concertos.
0:05 Intro
0:38 Theme 1
2:41 Theme 2
3:29 Development
5:22 False recap
6:48 Recap - Theme 1
8:26 Recap - Theme 2
8:59 Cadenza
11:52 Coda
12:23 Theme 1
13:39 Theme 2
15:04 Transition
15:35 Theme 1
17:05 Theme 2
18:57 A - Intro
19:14 A - Theme 1
20:06 A - Theme 2
21:05 B - Theme 1
22:11 B - Theme 2
23:02 B - Theme 1
23:58 A - Intro
24:16 A - Theme 1
25:10 A - Theme 2
26:11 Coda
Ty
Rachmanioff is a genius at composing concerto
Thank you for putting this together! Great interpretation.
17:05 obsessed with this theme
Absolutely!
I LOVE the first movements cadenza. Especially from 10:31 to the end 11:51. And second/third movements are even better than i remembered, what an amazing concerto
Definitely an underrated masterpiece, I truly love the expressiveness and intimate lyricism! Especially in the second movement! I could not possibly imagine this piece came from the hands of a man in his 20s!
A difficult and wonderful composition by a favorite composer .. gifted as he was, still am astonished he composed most of this masterpiece before his twentieth birthday . . and that he could play it as well ..am aware of comparisons to compositions such as the Grieg and others in reviews written at the time...agreed he may have used other compositions for a template to weave his own tapestry, that said, it still seems he weaved in much of his own original inspired style .. not to mention the difficulty of the piano writing . . just reminding everyone that in addition to being one of my very favorite composers, he had a reputation as one of the most formidable pianists of his day ..
Rachmaninoff praised Tchaikovsky for the mark he left as a composer, yet I find Rachmaninoff's own music so much deeper :-)
it was said that greigs concerto was rachs favorite concerto, and he deeply dedicated his first concerto on greigs
He was probably one of the only composers to completely develope and mature his style at the age of 18.
I know what you are talking about. You think that he made this at age 18, I thought so too. But no, this is actually the last concerto that he wrote. This is inspired by another concerto that he did for an assignment from his composition class. The students needed to do a concerto based of another. He based his on Grieg's only concerto in a minor (it would be important to mention that Grieg based his concerto on Schumann's). Just like Grieg's this one starts with the octaves going down after a short orchestral introduction. The original concerto was lost. Rachmaninoff remembered the concerto and transformed it to what you are hearing now. So he did not do this when he was 18.
El Fogon Del Buen Gusto oh. That’s kind of disappointing, but now that I think about it, it does sound very much like Grieg’s Concerto.
@@barackobama953 It's not disappointing. Think of it this way, he wrote prelude in c sharp minor when he was 19. Oh yeah, the structure is basically the same from Grieg's concerto. However I'm pretty sure that the inspiration from Grieg is only from the first movement. The other 2 movements are new and not part of the original idea when he was 18.
I still think he had developed his style at that age. His original transcript was remarkably advanced for his age.
Well, Rach revised this, as he was constantly doing; also bear in mind Russia's political unrest for years before he and many others left! A very difficult time we cannot know! I felt like not commenting anymore, but reading first comment of "paeffill", I thought, "What arrogance"! I think that comment didn't even deserve response!
I always like major scale on sorrow and this 2nd movement is a successful example
10:30
What a beautiful part!
This is the first time I heard this and WOW! What a great intro / piece
This piece is based on the Grieg A Minor Piano Concerto which is why at times it sounds very similar. Rachmaninoff and his fellow students at the conservatoire were told to use a pre-existing concerto as a framework on which to build.
@@flyingpenandpaper6119 what about Scriabin's piano concerto?
@@estebanabad2795 That was written after this concerto?
Now I see that it was written 5 years later, in 1896
@@estebanabad2795 They are both very good concertos though :-)
14:28 My god I feel like being with You up there
1:26 I like it!!!!
Does anyone know what's happened to Medtnaculus? I love these score videos but noticed it's been 5 years since the last one...
I think he said he just moved on from making them or something
The second movement's opening makes me really think of the prelude to Tristan and Isolde
Imagine this is your first opus......
17:04 oh how beautiful music!😌
The second movement is gorgeous
I love how the music is posted in real time!!!!
Love this...beatiful concerto
viva la vida.
Fabuloso, gracias por compartir.
I love how Alexander plays this - it is lyrically sublime…
0:37 this is the most beautiful melody I have ever seen, and 1:00 too!
What about 17:05 ?
@@hadrieneverard8121 Definitely, that too is one of my favourites.
It almost sounds like the theme to a 19th century mad scientist
Why I did not know about this before .... That`s absolutely insane
Having just come from the 1st (1891) version, I somewhat miss the dissonant (F sharp augmented over B octave or C sharp octave) climactic low chords at the end (as well as the cool octave rising "scales" of the piano over those chords)...although I suppose this ending is more "light" and "fluffy" to match the overall lighter and sparkly tone of the revision.
6.06 send shivers down my spine
Fantastic recording, don't know if it's the recording setup itself, or the mixing or the mastering but the balance and dynamics are wonderful
This is a very good recording!
20:47 is the music that plays whenever I complete a level in a video game. Then 20:53 plays at the start of the next level, lol
Haha I don't play video grd
Games*
Best Recording Ever Of Rachmaninoff #1......( of course with the Composers #1 as well ! ).....
Sorry. But this is his best concerto. Beautifully crafted and mature. Gorgeous highs and lows of a beautifully crafted musical rollercoaster!
I think all 4 are just equally as good as one another. No 1 full of passion and Russian spirit. No 2 is so deep and sad. No 3 is kind've of a glorious battle with the passion and sadness of 1 and 2. No 4 is a mix of the other 3 but with something new added to which is very unlike Rachmaninoff, probably the americanness. So in my opinion all 4 are all ridiculously good.
3:28
The second part is just a song for the soul
Slight correction, it is the second movement, not part
Wonderful Pianist !…… P. S. LOOK at the Photo of Rachmaninoff at the Beginning of this performance....SPECIFICALLY THE LENGTH OF RACHMANINOFF’S THUMB !!!!!…Rachmaninoff was the only Great Pianist in History That Could Stretch 13 White notes with one Hand ( C to A ) !!!!
2nd Movement: 12:16
18:00 LICHOI JAZZ
25:41 What a charm
The most beautiful music
This is the BEST recording of this concerto. When I am old and frail this will bring lovely memories of my past.
I love this concerto.
17:35
Wow! It is one of most beautiful thing in history
9:13 : cadenza
3:28
21:10 there's something very Chopin-esque about this bit!
True!
I feel like i'm watcing Harry Poter
vre a kai oust that is exactly what I think of!
Weird comparison but ok
Yeeeesss thank youu!!!!
Very adequate speed for this concerto
0:06, 11:25, 15:45, 25:15
Wow!bravo!
I believe this is Rachmaninoff's greatest work. I've been listening to it since I was 6 yrs old on 78RPM back in the 1950's. One reason its not more popular is because there are so few truly great performances of it, where none of the difficult passages are faked through with half the notes missing. Byron Janis, Valentina Lisitsa, Lugansky and Pletnev are among the few that do it justice.
it certainly feels fresh compared to No.2 & 3, but his greatest work?...
What about Zimerman?
@@SpaghettiToaster yes, I bought Zimermans CD many years ago and I love his 2nd Concerto but to me Pletnev eclipses everyone else on the 1st Concerto th-cam.com/video/kiCSdraoQmM/w-d-xo.html
@@onecello9577 its strictly a matter of taste and mood. I love Olga Kerns #3 as well as Bronfman and find it a toss up as to which is best or favorite Concerto. I recently discovered Matsuev's spellbinding performance of the 2nd which is quite overwhelming. th-cam.com/video/LQanRa1lUSQ/w-d-xo.html
3:29 Jesus Christ, that hit me like a ton of bricks!
Estupendo!
lo confundí con el de Greig
This concerto reminds me of scriabin's piano concerto also in f-sharp minor
I hear it too and I'm almost certain that this 6:51 is a reference to Scriabin's Op. 2 No. 1 :)
Yeah but this f minor
That piano is pure evil if you ask me it looks insanely hard! one of my favorite composers for sure!
0:40 ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
what a beautiful soul and pianist and composer was rachmaninoff,thanks alot for posting
17:00
Midori ito!
This sounds so much like Grieg's piano concerto!
nothing like it. Imo.