Rachmaninoff plays Rachmaninoff - Piano Concerto No. 1: Ia

[samoged]

What is this recording-- I just got it on a 1961 vinyl from the Akkopa label 04646-04647.

[blargers123]

quite a pity, this piece got scathing reviews at its debut. Sent rachmaninoff into depression for quite awhile.

[violavonschnitzel]

@blargers123 I think you are thinking of the Symphony No. 1. This concerto was written for Rachmaninoff's graduation from the Moscow Conservatoire and was then revised extensively in 1917. But by all accounts, it was a success.

[GA4N]

that's wild , that is true

[Excrey]

I don't know how it is but I prefer Zimerman's performance more than this :)))

[NightClash909]

Is this the easiest of all his concertos??

[0011486]

This sounds like fluctuating young hearts.

[princessyaegakihime]

Oh,thank you very much!! I love it so much.....I love No.1

[svardiashvili]

Rachmaninoff is good at playing Rachmaninoff.

[quinn244]

@svardiashvili well of course, he wrote the music. Therefore he know all the original intentions behind it.

[TheMrsVonnie]

what man who has only half a taste for music doesn't like this video?

[JOEdoesThings22]

great, but his second concerto is much more incredible

[PhillyB702]

@JOEdoesThings22 I would say that this is better than the second, it's maybe the best piece that Rachmaninoff ever composed.

[Criticalperspective2]

I'm not saying Rachmaninoff was bad, but he just wasn't a musician.

[bryan16love6love]

@Criticalperspective2 what on earth does that mean

[Criticalperspective2]

@bryan16love6love He's not a musician but the god of harmony. No need to ask all those rhetorical questions :)

[bryan16love6love]

@Criticalperspective2 actually none were rhetorical, i sincerely would like to know your opinion

[bryan16love6love]

@Criticalperspective2 are you a musician then? you must answer yes to have any credibility. and if you answer yes, how do you compare to rachmaninoff? what on earth makes you think you should say something like that? he gave us so much. what about you?

[fierydog]

If only I spent as much time practicing Rachmaninoff Concertos as I did listening to them. I would be a lot further than I am, that is for sure.

[abracadabranque]

Jamais entendu comme celà,et pour cause!..

[veimar15]

Amazing that this old recording made more than five decades ago has much more LIFE in it than most contemporary recordings all together. It talks and sings directly to our hearts.

[otiscort]

Absolutely gorgeous.

ModelsWebTv. com

[trschaefer]

This concerto deserves to be played & listened to much more often.

[chrisjurey666]

I used to hear his works on the radio all the time, and the guy who would say his name sounded like he was saying "Brachmarkinov." FINALLY! I found this took me forever though.

[meredith218461]

I've always loved this concerto, not just for its ardent lyricism but also for its disciplined structure. Also it shows the venerable composer/pianist in his full glory.

[HuttonGlutton]

I feel like it's cheesy to say this, but I'm ridiculously moved by this piece. It wraps me up in its emotion and just sweeps me away.

[mmoynan]

For me it's just amazing that I have the privilege to listen to this.

Modern technology does a lot of bad, but it also does a lot of good - and this is a prime of example of the phenomenal good it can make possible.

[barbarossa333]

Beautiful, wonderful! Always loved his 1st concerto :D Thank you for sharing.

[TheOutcome7]

Beautiful concerto. Not necessarily up-to-par with his following two concertos (in my humble opinion), but nevertheless, an awe-inspiring work of art for a novice composer in his early adulthood.

One of the major complaints of this concerto is that its structure is too much like Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor. But that was what he intended for the conservatory assignment.

[elpapaya94]

It is normal for people to listen to Rachmaninov and Scriabin and Russian romantic composers with little or no knowledge of musical theory? Cuz, frankly, I don't know shit, but it's my favorite genre.

[Gargantupimp]

@elpapaya94 yes most likely unlikely 2 like schoenberg 4 u tho

[AbartsWorld]

A masterpiece played by the master.

[werq34ac]

I hear the Grieg influence, but it's definitely Rachmaninoff

[Dennischek]

I don't care what people have said about this concerto , I just like it a lot .

[JohnTheRails]

Rachmaninov admired the Grieg concerto and made no secret of the fact he tried to emulate it with his first concerto. Listen to the original, unrevised version and you hear the similarity.

[rankfrankrank]

why was this concerto neglected when it was first published? Anyone know?

[trschaefer]

Apparently Rachmaninoff wrote this Concerto while her was still a student at the Conservatory. His instructors were NOT enthusiastic about this piece, claiming that it "lacked originality..."

So Rachmaninoff put the Concerto away for many years. But he revised it later in his life.

I absolutely love this piece! I find it extremely original, and quite gorgeous. (Perhaps his instructors were just jealous.)

[ixd735]

I think his instructors had a point. It's almost a complete rip off the Grieg Concerto. It is rather unoriginal, but I agree that it is gorgeous. The Second Concerto is the best of the three, IMHO.

[anthony9325]

"It's almost a complete rip off the Grieg Concerto"

Sorry but that is utter nonsense.

[ixd735]

Rachmaninoff admitted it himself. It can't be total nonsense.

[anthony9325]

No. Rachmaninov may have said he used the style of that concerto in its opening bars, and followed some of its general structure.

That doesn't make it a ripp-off, i.e. a bad imitation.

The tow pieces are diametrically different.

A Mercedes isn't a BMW ripoff because it has the same size engine and is built to similar standards.

Rach's style is fundamentally Russian and typical to him, also in this early work, whereas Grieg's inspiration is scandinavian.

[anthony9325]

Grieg's Piano Concerto is usually associated with Schumann's. Now those two are similar in melody, structure, and were composed roughly at the same time.

But each is still very distinctive, and neither is "a rip-off" of the other.

[ixd735]

OK... so perhaps not a "rip-off," but it's practically a derivative work...

[ixd735]

...and by best of the three, I mean best of the four.

[debrucey]

Only in the sense that hundreds of great works throughout history are. It says nothing about the works quality or originality.

[Killmajoro]

Ummm Rach wrote 4 piano concertos, not 3.

[trigalg693]

For one thing it wasn't performed very often, while the 2nd and 3rd grew in popularity. Also, the first edition isn't quite so good, the second has revised texture and is much more effective.

[24link135]

Well the instructors were indeed not to enthusiastic about it, but most of the critics loved it

[ciliaspippi]

From what I know, Rachmaninov performed it, and the audience hated it. So he thought he'd never be a composer. Didn't get published until he reworked it many years later

[84Fish48Fish]

I hope we're talking about his first symphony.

The conducter that was conducting the orchestra was believed to be drunk at the time and basically ruined it. Rachmaninov was in a state of depression after his first symphony.

I've read nowhere that people hated his first piano concerto. (He did revise it, however.)

[debrucey]

The first concerto was recieved well by critics and teachers. He was invited to perform it in Moscow but he turned down the oppertunity saying he wanted to write a concerto of higher quality for something like that.

[miliona1re]

I don't know how much Rachmaninoff was tall but i know he had 2 BIG HANDS perfect for his 4\5 notes accords :)

[eltachimetro]

he was 6'6

[Libertein818]

He could play a 12th easily. With his left hand he could play the chord C Eb G C G

[colourfulwithaU]

Jesus! I can't even do C Eb G C Eb!

[Libertein818]

yeah i can omly just make that, and thats stretching it.

[debrucey]

Imagine the size of his balls.

[miliona1re]

This concert is absolutely a mesterpiece of a genius.Very beautiful from the first note until the last.Tlanigan you will have great pleasure in studying and performing it.

[tlanigan]

Just about to start this concerto over the summer!!! Can't wait

[angelwhite9]

thank you. :-)

[maydengarNSBHS]

how hard is this concerto compared to the other rach ones?

[Libertein818]

I'm not quite sure but it is the easier of the three in my opinoin, the rach 3 is near impossible and the rach 2 isn't exactly a walk in the park either. I've just started learning the rach 1 and it's not too hard, just have to watch the accuracy and fingering as always. : )

[voolare]

By the way, Rach's piano concertos are 4 and not 3. The "easiest" (yeah right) is the 4th and according to Rach the 2nd had "too many notes to be learned" and was the hardest; (quoting from memory, I read this somewhere). Tradition wants the 3rd to be the hardest. You can get a straight answer only from whom played all4 pc's (ask Ashkenazy;-)

[ixd735]

I think the 4th is probably the easiest. I've heard and tried to play it, and in comparison to the first 3, it's no where near as difficult.

[debrucey]

I know people who say the 1st is harder than the 2nd but I spose it depends what your technique is like.

[IVlr3vil]

@debrucey

2 is harder to get down on the fingers. 1 and 3, once you got it in then it's in. 4 has the difficulty of 1 and 2 where it's strange to get into the fingers and hard to play.

The pianist and collaboration with the orchestra is much harder for 1 and 4.

Arturo Michelangelini has a remarkable Rach 4 and he is very picky in detail. I don't believe I've heard another recording of Rach 4 played around that caliber that gives us the nice episodic transition. So I say 4 is hardest.

[musicsavage]

Isn't there a version of this concerto whith only the piano playing?

[earthatic]

Fantastic piece. Beautiful, passionate, I love it!

[opus43rhap]

How tall was rachmaninoff?

[castout888]

6'6''

[opus43rhap]

woah!he's really tall.

[phiastardust]

the second movement of this piece is amazing. does anyone have a video of it? i cant seem to find one :(

[violavonschnitzel]

Lol I have posted one :) It should be in the realted videos section

[Arfat]

@violavonschnitzel It's not

[stefannestoroski]

Rachmaninov is a god...

[Poekiemolens]

In Horowitz's opinion Rachmaninoff's interpretation of this concerto was superb and better than his interpretations of his other concerti. Only one (weighty) opnion of course, but I happen to agree. Thanks for posting!

[violavonschnitzel]

I think that Horowitz definitely had something there :)

[EcliptoSpa]

weighty by today's standards, but not to Rach's.

[RandDguy]

@Poekiemolens

When you are the composer, it is not an interpretation. But I know what you mean.

[pianist003]

* unattainable

5 Stars

[pianist003]

I would like to paraphrase something Nikolai Lugansky said. He stated that Rachmaninoff's interpretation is incomparable and unatainable compared to others. How True. No one can ever match to the composer's own vision of the piece. Rachmaninoff is an absolutely brilliant wonderful musician, especially in his own works such as this. As Gyorgy Sandor said of Rachmaninoff, "He played music as freely as it should be." Rachmaninoff's legacy will forever be appreciated by musicians!!!

[estagonandfire]

@pianist003 Indeed

[barbarossa333]

@pianist003 Lugansky said that probably because his interpretations of Rach are very different, in the wrong direction. Understandable that Rach can not be matched, not just in the composer's own vision but in all aspects of piano performance that matter. Performers can at least try to show more musicality and pianism.

[estagonandfire]

@pianist003 I couldnt agree with you more

[ieronim2003]

i love this concerto for me this and the 3rd ar the most beautiful

[ffurgy]

The 2nd movement of this work is one of the most beautiful I've ever heard. I used to play at it...and dream....I have all 3 of his 1930's recordings of his concerti...I treasure them (33-1/3)...I wonder how his left hand and Liszt's right hand would have worked...lordy what a thought...

[violavonschnitzel]

Ha ha what a thought indeed :)

[DanielLaszloKovacs]

I've become acquainted with Rachmaninov just at an age, when he wrote this Concerto, and in Moscow, just before departing to St. Petersburg. This is the most fresh among the 4 concertos, I think. Maybe he sought that freshness in the 3 consecutive Concertos, but unfortuanetly impossibly - youth can't be revived... For me, this Concerto is St.Petersburg, the young and beautiful, eternal city, and will ever remain. Thanks for posting!

[violavonschnitzel]

No problem!

I'm glad to see someone who appreciates Rach's 1st so much.