Posted on 12/06/2015 4:48:12 AM PST by WhiskeyX
Rachmaninov: Pianoconcerto no.2 op.18
Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie o.l.v. Martin Panteleev Anna Fedorova, piano
Opgenomen 1 september 2013 - Concertgebouw, Amsterdam
Rachmaninovs Tweede pianoconcert is zijn populairste: het is te horen in vele films en is een mijlpaal in de carrière van alle grote pianisten.
(Excerpt) Read more at youtube.com ...
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff (Russian: СергеÌй ВаÑиÌльевич РахмаÌнинов;[1] Russian pronunciation: [sʲɪrˈɡʲej rÉxˈmanʲɪnÉ™f]; 1 April [O.S. 20 March] 1873 – 28 March 1943),[2] was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor.[3] Rachmaninoff is widely considered as one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music.[4]
Early influences of Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, and other Russian composers gave way to a personal style notable for its song-like melodicism, expressiveness and his use of rich orchestral colors.[5] The piano is featured prominently in Rachmaninoff's compositional output, and through his own skills as a performer he explored the expressive possibilities of the instrument.
[....]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Rachmaninoff
Piano Concerto No. 2 (Rachmaninoff)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Rachmaninoff 2" and "Rach 2" redirect here. For his second symphony, see Symphony No. 2 (Rachmaninoff).
The Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18, is a concerto for piano and orchestra composed by Sergei Rachmaninoff between the autumn of 1900 and April 1901.[1] The second and third movements were first performed with the composer as soloist on 2 December 1900.[2] The complete work was premiered, again with the composer as soloist, on 9 November 1901,[2] with his cousin Alexander Siloti conducting.
This piece is one of Rachmaninoff's most enduringly popular pieces,[3] and established his fame as a concerto composer.[4]
[....]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_Concerto_No._2_(Rachmaninoff)
Ping
My Favorite! :-)
I've always loved Rachmaninoff, but I never really appreciated the incredible beauty of his harmony until I actually played some of his music (not like this--nothing like this--but enough to understand).
Rachmaninoff builds harmonic tension like no one I know except J. S Bach. The harmonic tension makes you crave some kind of resolution, and he keeps it going on and on and on, making you long for the ultimate harmonic resolution. It's very sensual.
I love listening to it as I post.
Thanks, Whis!
Very nice indeed. Sort of reminds me of “Prelude in C Minor” by Frederic Chopin. Good stuff.
But the strings overpower her. At times you can barely hear the piano.
I don't know if that is the fault of those recording it or a lack of crispness on her part.
My favorite rendition of this piece is Horowitz (click here to hear it).
My all time favorite piece is Horowitz/Mehta Rachmaninoff No. 3.
I'm in love!
The more Americans see of Obama and the degenerate Left, the more they love and admire the Russians!
Now, however, the new thing is to have all women doing all the performing. Men still do most of the performing but now it's women/women/women doing all the performing that we hear and see. Otherwise, it's not played.
It's the same with announcing, commercials...all of it.
Men's voices have always been used before because their vocal range SOUNDS BEST over the air. Low-toned women sound good too. Bea Arthur would have sounded great.
It's a phase, a craze and it will pass I know. I just get annoyed because some of the women used on the air sound screechy and 11 years old. But, then MY hubby developed his own meachanical engineer-mind mute switch for me EONS ago. Now, EVERY remote has the ole mute-button.
Did you see his LAST performance in Moscow? It was aired here in the USA and was quite moving.
I didn’t see his last performance.:-(
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1. Having women perform these piano pieces is the newest rage. They can play chopsticks and the men will drool and ooze.
2. Of course you are. That's the way God programmed men.
3. True enough. Now is that pathetic or what. Putin stands in the backgroud, WAITING and HOPING that the office of "tsar" or "czar" will come back. He REALLY wants it.
However, now we don't have a Ronald Reagan to take down the "new" PutinRussia. Be careful for what you wish for.
4. My husband and I visited St. Petersburg. It was supposed to be the "gem" of Russia.
a. The food was prohibitively expensive.
b. The food was horribly mediocre.
c. Hotels were expensive and mediocre with luke-warm showers.
d. The sightseeing was dull as the famous "hermitage" museum was only a knockoff of the Louvre. And the Louvre was infinitely superior.
e. My hubby needed a wheelchair to go around the museum with our guide, young female, of course. A PASSPORT was needed to allow us to use the wheelchair but the Ruskies made HER, the guide, use HER passport to secure the use of the wheelchair. They weren't interested in OUR passports.
5. Their newpaper "Pravda," which means "truth," is a crock. Always a commie-party-speak.
Russia is simply the commie USSR in an abbreviated and poorer form.
My favorite piece. There is a reason this music has been used in movie soundtracks. Also, Eric Carmen used the melody from the 2nd movement as the basis for his best song
“On My Own”. He was trained as a classical pianist and loved Rachmaninoff. He got into some trouble because he thought the music was no longer under copyright protection but reached an agreement with the Rachmaninoff estate to pay royalties. My favorite version is the Cecile Licad/Claudio Abbabo version:
I enjoy a slower pace on the 2nd movement to heighten the romance and melancholy.
I did see it. I will never forget it. Horowitz (Jewish, an "assimilated" Jew, whatever that was) had a nasty cold and had a handkerchief to wipe his nose every so often.
He played and played then left the stage.
The audience clapped and clapped and clapped.
He returned to the stage and played a little more. The very last piece he played was an old, familiar and much loved Russian piece.
Women openly WEEPED. Men cried. There must have been cameras everywhere as we-who-watched saw all kinds of weeping faces.
During the piece, the camera then zoomed in on ONE 50-ish man, arms folded across his chest, with a gray suit, gray tie, gray hair and an unsmiling, stern, immovable face of chisled stone who sat and listened, apparently UNmoved.
Finally, he was moved. Towards the end of the piece ONE tear, just ONE lonely tear, slowly rolled down his face, his left cheek. His expression never changed. But that one lone tear, FORCED out of him, did me in and I still snerf when I think of it
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All things aside, this is a very solid performance by Anna Fedorova.
I heard this in church a few months ago, and can't get it out of my head.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47PaOFheEYo
I never doubted it.
I wonder if you're as much a fan of the great male pianists. I like'em all and admire talent, even if it doesn't come in "female." (I'm female.)
I could not name a female pianist until I watched this video.
All the pianists I’m familar with are male.
Gustav Holst is one of my favorite composers.
I’m convinced he despises pianos.
Odd how "classical" music stayed in Europe, in Austria (Mozart) and Germany (too many to list) and other European places.
The English did plays, books, poems and other literature. THAT seemed to be their greatest contribution to the world. Music? Not too much.
The Italians? Lol. Music, food, BEAUTIFUL things. The Ferreri is a gorgeous car...doesn't work too well but it's beautiful.
I remember Muammar Gaddafi (Libya had been under Italian rule for a while.) wearing BEAUTIFUL Italian silk scarves with his military uniform. He was a well-dressed, a la Italian despot. He also got fat as a pig...yuck. All the beautiful clothes can't hide excess blubber.
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