Serguéi Rajmaninov · Romanticism
1909
Concert for piano · New York
Tonality
Re minor.
From the atril
Rajmaninov composed his third concert in 1909 for his first tour of the United States, and premiered it in New York in November of that year. Weeks later he played it again with Gustav Mahler as director, who rehearsed with the orchestra with a care that the composer would always remember. He dedicated it to the pianist Josef Hofmann, who never touched him.
It is one of the most difficult concerts in the repertoire, due to its density of notes and its duration. However, it begins with a disarming simplicity: the piano plays, at two hands and in octaves, a quiet melody of Russian popular air, almost a song. From there, the work grows steadily. The great cadence of the first movement, of which Rajmaninov wrote two versions, is a mountain of chords. The intermezzo is nostalgic and varied, and the end, which starts without pause, unfolds an irresistible energy to a triumphal conclusion. The film Shine made him famous as he «Rach 3»Everest of the pianists.
What to hear
- The simple melody of the beginning.
- The great cadence of the first movement.
- The triumphal conclusion of the end.
