Piano Concerto No. 3 (Rachmaninoff)
|
|
Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 (colloquially known as The Rach 3) is famous for its technical and musical demands on the performer.
Following the form of what can be considered a standard concerto, the piece is in three movements:
- Allegro ma non tanto
- Intermezzo: Adagio
- Finale: Alla breve
The third movement follows the second without pause (attacca).
Written in the peaceful setting of his family's country estate, Ivanovka, the Third Concerto in D Minor, opus 30, was completed on the 23rd of September in 1909. Rachmaninoff wrote this piece in order to showcase his own talents not only as a composer, but as a pianist. Contemporary with this work are his first piano sonata, his also fairly well-known tone poem The Isle of the Dead and his setting of the liturgy.
The Rach 3 is respected, even feared, by all pianists. Josef Hofmann, the pianist to whom the work is dedicated, never attempted to play it, saying that it "wasn't for" him.
Due to time constraints, Rachmaninoff could not practice the piece while in Russia. Instead, he took a silent keyboard with him on a ship to the US, on which he started and finished his work on the masterpiece.
It was first performed on November 28, 1909 by the New York Symphony Society with Walter Damrosch conducting and Rachmaninoff appearing as the guest artist on piano. It received a second performance under Gustav Mahler several weeks later, an 'experience Rachmaninoff treasured' [1] (http://www.orsymphony.org/concerts/0405/programnotes/classical2.html). The manuscript was first published in 1910 by Gutheil. A typical performance lasts around 45 minutes, compared to the typical concerto length of 20-30 minutes.
It was popularized by the movie Shine, which portrayed the famous Australian pianist David Helfgott performing "the hardest piece in the world" for a concerto competition at the Royal College of Music in England.
Among the most popular recordings of this concerto are those by Vladimir Horowitz (particularly the 1951 recording with Fritz Reiner and the RCA Symphony Orchestra) and Vladimir Feltsman.de:3. Klavierkonzert (Rachmaninow)