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Topic: Rachmaninoff 2nd concerto (recent live performance)  (Read 6138 times)

Offline fnork

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...with 2nd piano.

7/7-/07
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Offline fnork

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Re: Rachmaninoff 2nd concerto (recent live performance)
Reply #1 on: July 19, 2007, 10:04:41 PM
Taken from a student concert at a course I recently went to.

Offline fnork

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Re: Rachmaninoff 2nd concerto (recent live performance)
Reply #2 on: July 19, 2007, 11:26:27 PM
It's nice to revisit pieces you learned a few years ago and see what has happened in the meantime. I learned this movement about 2,5 years ago but after starting working on it again a few months ago I am now able to play it up to speed, which I couldn't at that time. Nice to see.. this movement has a few REALLY tricky spots...

Oh, and I should add, though, that the concert was like an hour or two after having a lesson on the piece and my teacher told me to change LOTS of things... for instance, I usually play most of it faster (especially the opening theme) but I decided to try my teachers version.. she did have some good ideas, but now when listening to the whole thing I still feel that I prefer a faster tempo in general (except for some parts in the development section). But comments and thoughts are appreciated!

Offline jlh

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Re: Rachmaninoff 2nd concerto (recent live performance)
Reply #3 on: July 19, 2007, 11:59:01 PM
Was that your teacher playing the 2nd piano?
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Offline jlh

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Re: Rachmaninoff 2nd concerto (recent live performance)
Reply #4 on: July 20, 2007, 12:07:49 AM
Overall I really like it!  Isn't that such a great piece of music to play?  So many challenges to overcome, and when you do, it's totally worth it!

I wouldn't take it faster than you did here.  In fact a few spots are a little out of place since you seem to have reverted back to your old way (fast) of playing a couple times.

I like how you slowed down going into the first cadenza-like passage.  That's what I do there as well, even though a lot of people accelerate into it.  It was effective, but a little too much in my opinion..  That's actually what I was wanting to bring up -- that several spots kind of "die" and the music wants to move forward.  There's a lot of emotion in this work, but don't get TOO sentimental or it comes off a bit affected.  There is also the issue of wrong notes and lack of 'togetherness' with the 2nd piano at times, but these I think are secondary to the musical thought in this case -- especially since your teacher made you change how you play it a few hours before playing it.

Also, the coda...  I think it would be more effective if you started it a bit slower, and didn't start to accel until the last page. 

Like I said though, I thought you did a great job!

Josh
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LOL "”””””””\         [ ] \
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Offline fnork

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Re: Rachmaninoff 2nd concerto (recent live performance)
Reply #5 on: July 20, 2007, 07:39:33 AM
Thanks for the comment! Have you played the whole concerto btw? (with orchestra too?) I'm working on the other movements too but I have other things that I want to do as well so it's going to take quite a while I guess...

hehe, you're quite right about the tempos - sometimes it's draggingly slow, and sometimes it's a bit too fast - a conflict between my tempos and the tempos my teacher wanted! The development section became somewhat messy, and with two pianos its hard to hear whats going on at times.

oh, a 'funny' thing by the way - the other pianist, who was a student of this teacher and had accompanied the piece before, was completely gone right before we were supposed to go on stage! I was running around all over the school looking for him and eventually he showed up like 2 minutes before playing - he just went practicing somewhere without saying anything. Instead of focusing on the concert I had to run all around the school and look for him... heh.

What cadenza-like passage are you referring to btw - is it in the 2nd theme before that theme comes the last time? I totally agree with you about sentimentality, but that's the conflict that I had with the teacher - I also think it gets too affected. The structure of the piece really gets eaten up by that and while it was nice to hear what she had to say, I will stick to the way I played it before - most of it, at least.

Offline fnork

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Re: Rachmaninoff 2nd concerto (recent live performance)
Reply #6 on: July 23, 2007, 10:28:53 AM
Also, the coda...  I think it would be more effective if you started it a bit slower, and didn't start to accel until the last page. 
Well, I DID start the accel at the last page, right? Anyway, I'll try starting slower, might be a good idea. Usually, I've done an accelerando until the chordy passage in the last couple of measures where I keep the tempo pretty steady - I see it as an accelerando to that point, rather than to the end of the movement.

Stephen hough does this coda pretty damn fast in his recording - I think his first movement clocks at less than 8 and a half minute while most recordings are over ten minutes...heh.

Offline nomis

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Re: Rachmaninoff 2nd concerto (recent live performance)
Reply #7 on: July 23, 2007, 08:27:46 PM
I love the fantastic drive before the recap! Great stuff.

Offline jlh

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Re: Rachmaninoff 2nd concerto (recent live performance)
Reply #8 on: July 23, 2007, 09:04:08 PM
Well, I DID start the accel at the last page, right? Anyway, I'll try starting slower, might be a good idea. Usually, I've done an accelerando until the chordy passage in the last couple of measures where I keep the tempo pretty steady - I see it as an accelerando to that point, rather than to the end of the movement.

Stephen hough does this coda pretty damn fast in his recording - I think his first movement clocks at less than 8 and a half minute while most recordings are over ten minutes...heh.

Stephen Hough is good, but he also does some peculiar things.  You're right, you did start to accel on the last page.  The problem was that you were already going so fast that any accel you did wasn't as effective.    :-\
. ROFL : ROFL:LOL:ROFL : ROFL '
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  L   ______/             \
LOL "”””””””\         [ ] \
  L              \_________)
                 ___I___I___/

Offline fnork

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Re: Rachmaninoff 2nd concerto (recent live performance)
Reply #9 on: July 25, 2007, 04:43:30 PM
I love the fantastic drive before the recap! Great stuff.
Thanks for listening! I like that part to sort of go "out of control", which is risky if you want to get all of the notes :P

Josh,
hmm, I'll relisten and see what to do about the coda.. btw, there are some spots where I'm not totally sure about fingerings, and it would be nice to hear what you do in those spots - I'll PM you later about it if you don't mind! :)

Offline jlh

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Re: Rachmaninoff 2nd concerto (recent live performance)
Reply #10 on: July 25, 2007, 09:43:32 PM
Sure... be glad 2 help!
. ROFL : ROFL:LOL:ROFL : ROFL '
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  L   ______/             \
LOL "”””””””\         [ ] \
  L              \_________)
                 ___I___I___/

Offline fnork

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Re: Rachmaninoff 2nd concerto (recent live performance)
Reply #11 on: August 28, 2007, 02:24:42 PM
updated: deleted the presentation before the performance, couldn't do that until now.

Offline thalberg

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Re: Rachmaninoff 2nd concerto (recent live performance)
Reply #12 on: August 28, 2007, 04:26:08 PM
fnork,

I really liked this!  I thought it was wonderful playing.  I enjoyed it a lot.

Offline rachfan

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Re: Rachmaninoff 2nd concerto (recent live performance)
Reply #13 on: August 29, 2007, 09:03:54 PM
Hi fnork,

You played this movement superbly!  I enjoyed it totally.  In fact, in its own way, I like this two piano reduction as well as the piano/orchestral version.  You can hear certain textures that become more obscured in the heavier orchestral sound.  Congratulations on you wonderful accomplishment.
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