Play chords if you are able - Rachmaninov never intended spread chords here
hmm, I'm not convinced by this, listen to Rachmaninoffs' own recording and he spreads the chords, he has no reason to do this as he had massive hands....
Hmmmmm. Are you sure??? I've never heard this done by him. And they're cretainly not written spread in the score!AD
Yep, definately on the recording I have of him playing it he spreads most of the opening chords, I guess it was the "romantic" thing to do back then. No they're not written in the score, I guess this is a sore point for me as when i played this piece earlier this year, I had to split the chords (all but the first), and even now my hands aren't big enough, I guess they never will be....!
I would play these as written not just as chords. I think there is a reason Rachmaninoff wrote this the way he did. When I heard Olga Kern play this peice last year she played it as written. And if she does it this way, I will do it too because I think she's amazing.