im on a real rachmaninov kick right now. some of his works are absolutely beautiful and incredible. look for his piano concerto #3.
i've got the music of his concerto piece that makes people go mad apparently. insanely hard and hurts my fingers coz i only have short ones but a lovely challenge nonetheless!
actually all his piano concertoes have beautiful music. of course the paganini variations. but my personal favorite rach has to be his sonata in G for cello and piano. the third movement is lyricism at it's finest and most wallowing . THAT is my favorite non operatic piece of all time!
All 4 Rach piano concertos do indeed rock! The second one is the most well known, arguably one of the most beautiful concertos ever, but overplayed. The third is another favorite... look for André Laplante's live performance at the 1978 Tchaikovsky piano competition where he won the silver medal... one of the best recordings IMO. The first and fourth are sooooooo pretty as well, but they are very overshadowed by the incredibly splendour of the 2nd and 3rd. I am currently learning the 1st. The fourth however falls in his late late compositions and it is quite apparent that he was going through a transitional stage of composing. It sounds more like early Prokofiev.
I just watched this movie called the Shine (worst movie ever) where this one got all crazy cuz he played some Raminof. I think Mike Oldfield played some Raminof in a section of Amarok.
I just played a Rachmaninoff piece in a recital. Polichinelle in F sharp minor - beautiful piece, really weird though. Took a while to learn.
My favourite Rach peice is piano concrto 2, that tutti bit in the first movement where the orchestra stomps the beat behind the piano is fantastic, sounds very caberet
love concerto 2 :] played the Symphonic Dances with my youth orchestra - INCREDIBLE piece, so much fun to play in fact, it is tied with Stravinsky's Firebird for favorite pieces (performed) this season :]
