Interesting that the music says allegro assai and yet the speed seems to be more like Allegretto con moto. Either this is a spurious copy or Rachmaninioff is taking no notice of his own markings. I suspect the former because Rachmaninoff would have played this a lot faster otherwise. I do wish that video music would conform to what the composer originally wrote!!!!!
There same collection of rolls contains a borderline unplayably fast rendering of the op. 10 barcarolle, so this is most certainly the tempo Rachmaninoff chose to play it at, whether you like it or not.
@@SpaghettiToaster This goes to show that composers have not much idea of what they really want!! Why write 'very fast' if he really has a leisurely speed in mind? Perhaps there are many things that composers write which we can choose to ignore, tempi being one of the more important aspects, since the speed that a piece is played at can suggest different approaches to mood! Perhaps Prelude Op.23 No.9 in E flat minor would be quite acceptable at 70% of Rachmaninoff's tempo marking of Presto, since he might have decided to record it on a day where his mind was in a much calmer frame of mind!!
@@grumpyoldpianistplus I had a conversation with Ruth Slenczynska (who was a pupil of Rachmaninoff) and she told me he didn't play things the same way twice. She pointed out that there was a copy of the second concerto that had Rachmaninoff's handwritten suggestions----which he later himself disregarded!
@@stacelandicus8679 Thank you for that; it is always useful to have knowledgeable comments from those who have known the composers themselves. She, of course, on RUclips, has a video of her playing the E flat minor prelude at the speed Rachmaninoff indicated. He could not have played it any better!!! It must have taken very many hours to get it to such fluency. I was aware that Rachmaninoff made alterations and different versions to his piano concertos, so, I suppose, with the passing of time, he would alter his perspective on a particular piece; however, I am surprised that he would record a performance at a completely different speed to that which he stipulated. I have always been urged to follow the composers' writings, but, perhaps from now on, I will take what Rachmaninoff says with a pinch of salt!!!!
@@grumpyoldpianistplus the most illustrative example of this is the second concerto; Rachmaninoff played it at more than one speed, but today it is usually played comparitively slowly. He liked Eugene List's tempo, which is much faster than the norm
An outstandingly clean performance. Bravo, Rachmaninoff!
love the final passage of this piece
Those repeated octaves with a bass drop afterwards sure sound amazing
Besides of all hear here a lot of peculiarly reminding Bartok`s Allegro Barbaro.
Interesting that the music says allegro assai and yet the speed seems to be more like Allegretto con moto. Either this is a spurious copy or Rachmaninioff is taking no notice of his own markings. I suspect the former because Rachmaninoff would have played this a lot faster otherwise. I do wish that video music would conform to what the composer originally wrote!!!!!
There same collection of rolls contains a borderline unplayably fast rendering of the op. 10 barcarolle, so this is most certainly the tempo Rachmaninoff chose to play it at, whether you like it or not.
@@SpaghettiToaster This goes to show that composers have not much idea of what they really want!! Why write 'very fast' if he really has a leisurely speed in mind? Perhaps there are many things that composers write which we can choose to ignore, tempi being one of the more important aspects, since the speed that a piece is played at can suggest different approaches to mood! Perhaps Prelude Op.23 No.9 in E flat minor would be quite acceptable at 70% of Rachmaninoff's tempo marking of Presto, since he might have decided to record it on a day where his mind was in a much calmer frame of mind!!
@@grumpyoldpianistplus I had a conversation with Ruth Slenczynska (who was a pupil of Rachmaninoff) and she told me he didn't play things the same way twice. She pointed out that there was a copy of the second concerto that had Rachmaninoff's handwritten suggestions----which he later himself disregarded!
@@stacelandicus8679 Thank you for that; it is always useful to have knowledgeable comments from those who have known the composers themselves. She, of course, on RUclips, has a video of her playing the E flat minor prelude at the speed Rachmaninoff indicated. He could not have played it any better!!! It must have taken very many hours to get it to such fluency. I was aware that Rachmaninoff made alterations and different versions to his piano concertos, so, I suppose, with the passing of time, he would alter his perspective on a particular piece; however, I am surprised that he would record a performance at a completely different speed to that which he stipulated. I have always been urged to follow the composers' writings, but, perhaps from now on, I will take what Rachmaninoff says with a pinch of salt!!!!
@@grumpyoldpianistplus the most illustrative example of this is the second concerto; Rachmaninoff played it at more than one speed, but today it is usually played comparitively slowly. He liked Eugene List's tempo, which is much faster than the norm