rach3_musical_analysis

[c0nfused]

Hi everybody,
   I am currently writing a paper about Rachmaninov and his work for my History of Music class, that must include a thorough analysic of a certain piece of the composer. I have chosen his 3rd Piano Concerto, and I would like some advice for books or sites that include such analysis. Anyone familiar with Rachmaninov bibliography could help. Any suggestions would be really appreciated.

Thanks

[kriskicksass]

DON'T analyze Rachmaninoff's D minor Concerto. Too long, too complicated, too likely to cause you to rip out your hair and jump out a window. Rachmaninoff's style involves simply too many notes and modulations to make analysis practical.

[nicco]

A decent analysis on this concerto shouldnt be more then 7-800 pages minimum, so good luck.

[Bob]

(raised eyebrows) ?

I might not pick a concerto to analyze for a music history paper just because the length. 

Analyzing the themes wouldn't be so bad.  That's possible.  It's just a lot of work -- work to make it look nice and clean for the paper.  That's why I might go with something shorter but still representative.

Ask your prof what they want and if they think the piece is a good idea.

New Groves is a good place for detailed info. 

Silly as it sounds, a basic encyclopedia can be a useful place just to start (World Book, Britannica).  The general encyclopedias give the most important information and are concise.  (I wouldn't dare list one in a citation though.) 

Wikipedia always has interesting stuff.  But it's not academic.

New Groves has some kind of composer biography too.  That would be good.

Whether you include it or not, doctorale and masters projects could be useful.  I'm sure someone has analyzed the concerto for one.


I don't think it's impossible, but I do think it's a lot of work.  If you tried to do a chordal analysis of it, that might be a little nutty (esp for one class), but a thematic analysis should be possible.

And then you can post it on here!  And we can learn from it and people will say good job! and others will complain that you didn't do it the right....   and someone will call it shizzle, someone will start a poll about which composer is best to analyze, someone will give you some recipes and links...


Here are some links I found though Google...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_Concerto_No._3_(Rachmaninoff)
https://www.gmlile.com/webrings/rachring/rachring.html
https://www.answers.com/topic/piano-concerto-no-3

[pianistimo]

in 'a history of the concerto' by thomas roeder, he says (on page303-306):
'rachmaninov completed the third piano concerto in d minor, op. 30 (1909), nine years after the second.  it is a brilliant example of a captivating and extrememly difficult piano part fully integrated witha substantial and exciting orchestral part.  the sheer extent and density of the piano part--the staves of the piano score are black with notes--make the listener well aware of the importance of the solo instrument, but it does not dominate the orchestra. rachmaninov wrote the concerto for his first american tour and practied the extraordinarily demanding piano part on a silent keyboard on board ship to the united states.  he played the concerto for the first time at a sunday afternoon new york symphony society concert on 28 november 1909, with walter damrosh conducting.  two months later gustav mahler conducted a second ny performance.

a musted-string accompanimental murmur and an enticing, rocking motive in clarinets and bassoons set a dark, remote, and somewhat mysterious mood at the beginning of the first movement.  the long opening theme (24mm) is presented in octaves by the piano in a thoroughly effective but simple fashion (mm. 3-11).  this theme has a strong russian flavor, with its short melodic units rotating around the tonic, and, in its early measures, a narrow range--so characteristic of russian folk melodies.  the unusual placement of figures within a metric unit leads to unexpected but subtle syncopations, another characteristic of russian folk melodies. 

similar melodiesalso inspired some of stravinsky's facinating rhythmic structures.  the momentary tonal shift in m. 12 is a coloristic element that probably also has its roots in russian folk material; such shifts are a noteable characteristic of prokofiev's music, as well.  when asked if this engaging theme derived from specific russian folk-song roots, rachmaninov contended that it did not, though the theme is close to a russian chant he might have heard and subconsciously appropriated.  in typical russian fashion, the theme is repeated in the orchestra with piano decoration. 

[pianistimo]

'the expressive second theme (mm. 107-110) expands upon a brief, rhythmic fanfare figure (mm.69-70) used in the transition.  the figure gradually evolves through transformation (mm. 93-94).  as the solo instrument repeats the second theme and takes it through higher sequences, various instruments in the orchestra engage in miniature duets with the piano. 

both themes of this movement occur again in later movements, giving the work a strong cyclical unity, but the haunting first theme appears more frequently.  the theme forms the heart of the first movement's development section, where it undergoes a syncopated rhythmic transformation (mm203-207).  it is recast as a waltz int he middle ofthe  intermezzo movement ( mm.137-141), first having been used to accompany the piano in a scherzo-like passage.  in the finale, in a brief interlude before the recapitulation, both first-movement themes appear in quick succession, only modestly altered.  a fragment of the first theme serves as the basis of a macabre dance in the coda, complete with the rattling of strings struck with the wooden part of the bow--very reminiscent of a portion of the orgy dance in berlioz's symphony fantastique.'

[pianistimo]

'a very substantial cadenza occurs in the first movement.  it is divided into two parts by an interlude involving solo woodwinds on the main theme against continuing arpeggiation by the piano.  the composer provides two options for the piano in the first part of the cadenza, both built on the main theme.  the longer option is the more difficult, the chords in the rh based on the rhythmic shape depicted in mm. 203-207.

the passionate middle melody on which the adagio middle movement is based finally arrives in the remote but lush key of D-flat major in the piano after a long introduction beginning in A-major.  the highly chromatic and deeply expressive second movement progresses toward a cadenza-like transition to the extraordinarily virtuosic finale.  the finale is one of the most exciting movements in all of the piano concerto literature:  the solo part is outstandingly brilliant, and the orchestral music is just as compelling, packing apowerful punch.'

[pianistimo]

'in addition to quoting two themes from the first movement, rachmaninov introduces four other themes, one after the other, in the finale.  the first three (mm. 3-5, 39-40, 74-78) are rhythmically vital, and the last (mm. 103-107) passionately soaring.  succinct variations of the first fill the development section.  in the recapitulation, the third idea, with its repetitious chordal syncopations and crescendo, builds to the climax of the soaring fourth theme, which shares the general contour of the third theme.  the tonal scheme of the recapitulation is unorthodox.  the first theme returns in c minor, while the second begins in b-flat and moves to f, and the third remains largely centered in F.  very tricky, but optional, woodwind passages, emphasizing lightening-fast triplets, augment the tension of the mounting syncopated chordal theme.  in the consummate mastery with which rachmaninov constructed the final climax of this ultimate virtuoso concerto, we sense this pianist-composer's overriding concern to locate points in others' works that he could carry tot he utmost peak.

some years passed before other pianists could master this extraordinarily difficult concerto; among a few who did was the ukranian-born vladimir horowitz (1904-1989), who became one of the work's principal interpreters.  in the late 1920's and early 1930's, rachmaninov made several cuts in the score he used for his own performance of the concerto, urging horowitz to do likewise, in order to ease the demands and reduce the sheer volume of notes to be played in what is a test of endurance.  thankfully, several modern performers are now capable of performing the entire work in its original form, so it is now usually heard in that form.'

[pianistimo]

in looking at shenkerian analysis - it seems that they analyze by measure - but i tried typing out all the measures and filling in stuff that was written (top line written stuff, middle line - things that appeared in the score, bottom line chords) --but this took forever.

what i would suggest is to simply xerox ur own score (after making sure that u have all the measures numbered) and simply writing in ur analysis onto the score.  take all the information that u have gathered and write in the form of each movement (as u see it), the 'points of articulation' (usually around changes int he music marked by rests), and the chord changes that u find are unusual.  agreed about not analyzing every single chord - as it takes forever.

look into some journal analyzations --as u can find some interesting stuff.  AND, read a book about what rachmaninov said about his own concerto (or letters).  this is always interesting reading. 

[c0nfused]

Thank you for all your answers.

I should have made clear from my first post that this is not a really advanced class so some very difficult technical details can surely be left out. My plan, and as my teacher told me, is to write about 50 or 60 pages. And yes, I asked my teacher and she said that a concerto would probably be a good idea as much have been written about them. As for my choice for the 3rd one, I like it the most, but you may be right that it's not a really good idea as too many have played it and I guess that so much must have been written about it.

Anyway, thanks again all of you for your suggestions and advice (and pianistimo for the useful information). I think i will insist on the 3rd one. Once again, i will ask you that if you know of any book that contains anything about this concerto, I would really appreciate it if you told me.

[jehangircama]

try out the bbc radio 3 site because I remember that at least 2 months back they had 40-45 min lectures analysing certain pieces, like the Rach 3, the Brahms 2nd concerto, etc. that may be what you're looking for.

[pianistimo]

yes.  bbc is really cool (to listen to the lectures).  also, i found this info about the movie 'shine' that was kinda interesting tie to rach 3:
https://wireless.stanford.edu/~rayw/shine.html

and, this blurb from ashkenazy about rachmaninov - it's interesting how he describes the harmonies:

www.andante.com/article/article.cfm?id=15463&highlight=1&highlightterms=&lstKeywords=

also, if u go to the library and look in some analysis books indexes - u might find rach 3 analyzed.  or, look in the journal section. u can find a lot there. 

[c0nfused]

Thanks for your two answers. I searched in the bbc radio 3 site, but I didn't find much. Generally I have done some research in the Internet the last few days and I have found various sites, such as the andante site mentioned, that all have small amount of information. And i need a lot of things so tomorrow I am visiting a big music library in my city hoping to find some good stuff in there... I will inform you of anything good that I will come across.

The bad thing is that, while I am writing of course the paper in my PC, it's not in English (simply because I am not from England or USA or Canada etc) so it will be tiring to post any good information, as i have to translate any information found in English in my mother-tongue, combine them with what i have in Greek (yes I am from Greece....), write them in my paper, and if anything turns out to be good, translate it in English in order to post it. Quite tiring.... But I will post any good bibliography that I may find

[steve jones]

Funnily enough Iv been analysing quite a bit of Rachmaninov lately. I did a rough job of the Op16 No 3 Adagio today. Also done some themes from the PC2 and some of the Op23 preludes.

Let me echo the previous sentiments - analysing the 3rd PC is an absolutely monumental task. Im not sure I could do it in 6 months! Rach writes music that can sometimes be in a constant flux of modulation - indeed it sometimes very difficult to keep you eye on the ball tonally.

I recommend trying something a little more managable. If it were me, I would think that the first movement of the 2nd PC would be a better choice. Plenty to talk about, but it would be way more do'able than the entire 3rd.

Also, before starting it might be worth doing some preludes so that you can become familiar with his work (theoretically I mean).

SJ

[jehangircama]

here's the bbc link
 
https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/discoveringmusic/audioarchive.shtml