Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto

[natalyaturetskii]

Hi,

My friend wants to start learning Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto and she asked me what I thought of it, but I wasn't quite sure what to say. She is a diploma pianist and she's 16 years old and is obsessed with this piece so I don't think that I can say anything to dissuade her, but I think she just wants to know what other people think. I know that some people say that Rachmaninoff is hard if you don't understand the music or have passion, but this doesn't seem to be a problem with her, she is an extremely passionate pianist. I think that she wants to learn it within a year or so, so time is not a problem.

What do you think?

Thanks,
Natalya

[davidjosepha]

Well, it's considered one of the most difficult pieces in standard repertoire, so maybe make sure she's aware of that before she starts.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

How good is she?

[johnannsb]

I would not recommend it -no matter how good. Go on youtube I doubt even there you can find a 16 year old pianist playing Rach 3. It had many notes and I think I would be more worthwhile at this time to learn something else. This is just my opinion and while she might be play to play the notes, I doubt she will enjoy it. Maybe play the First Rachmanioff concerto ( a very good piece and it has fantastic Cadenza) or the Rhapsody.

[chadbrochill17]

Is this thread a joke?

Seriously it's turning into, "Hi, I know someone and a piano. Can I or someone else play Rach 3?"

If she is actually a diploma pianist and can not gauge the difficulty of RACHMANINOFFS 3rd PIANO CONCERTO, I seriously doubt she has the ability. It does not take a posting to a piano forum  to find this out. It takes less than 5 minutes listening to this piece to realize it is meant for gods.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

I would not recommend it -no matter how good. Go on youtube I doubt even there you can find a 16 year old pianist playing Rach 3.

I found two 14 year old kids playing it. 

[chopin2015]

Tell her professional pianists learn all three. >

[teosoleil]

You're all a bunch of pessimists.

The reason why artists don't ever become great--in any field--is because they don't do the impossible, when what's "impossible" is actually possible. Luganski learned Rach 3 when he was eighteen, some others less.

Always challenge yourself. Who cares if her interpretation won't be as "great"? That doesn't make the piece untouchable. The earlier she learns it, the better she'll mature, the better she'll understand it when the time comes.

No successful pianist hasn't done something because of age. Age doesn't matter, maturity does, and facing a mature piece often brings that. Believe me. I know pianists who haven't even touched seventeen whose interpretations for certain pieces are unbelievable. Even Argerich performed mature Bach pieces as a kid. Larrocha performed music no one ever heard outside of her home country, and she remains the #1 interpreter of those works because she understood them and grew up with them since she was a little girl.

Was it just talent that brought them to their thrones? Natural selection? No. They challenged themselves, did what others said not to do and what others considered "immature" or impossible. And they won in the end.

It's too late for the girl--she's either learning it right now or isn't. But pianists shouldn't discourage other pianists unreasonably. The girl is obviously experienced and has played mature pieces, being a diploma pianist, learning Rach 3 can only do her good. She doesn't even have to perform it. She can just learn to understand it, hum the tune, play it for her own amusement.

She isn't even doing it for the sake of competition, she's doing it out of love since she truly is obsessed with the piece.

I swear, artists unreasonably discouraging other artists is a huge problem. I can understand if it were a beginner wanting to learn it, but a maturing girl who has experience? Please, get rid of the pomp, get rid of the discouragement, stop thinking an individual "shouldn't do something" because they aren't mature enough. Get rid of the fences that limit possibilities. Only then can you grow as a person and let others grow, too.

[awesom_o]

Go on youtube I doubt even there you can find a 16 year old pianist playing Rach 3.

There you go, aged 15.... quite a solid performance, too, I might add!

[ajspiano]

Its not really about discouraging them teosoleil. The thing is just such a monster, its well beyond "diploma level" and there are far better choices for your development at that stage. Age not being a consideration.

In anycase, when you start tackling something like that you find out very quickly if you're ready for it. You dont push yourself to learn that concerto as if its a test of your skills and determination..  it would be comparable to learning a full opus of chopin etudes.

You're either up to it and you know it (but its still hard) or you're not and the experience is more like running head first into a brick wall over and over.

..I personally find many aspects of playing it semi depressing because my skills are inadequate, and would thoroughly recommend spending real time with atleast half the WTC, and then a range of more romantic style contrapuntal work, aswell as some good exposure to rachmaninoff in advance to ensure you have the skills required to avoid that brick wall.

[thorn]

teosoleil, I couldn't agree more. Well said.

However...

If you need to ask someone if you are ready to tackle a particular work, then you likely have PERSONAL mental reservations about it. Nothing deals a swifter defeat than self doubt. Not even the pessimism of others.

[pianosfun]

Look up the article by New York Times labeled, "Virtuosos becoming a dime in a dozen"...

In it a teacher quotes that "All of his 16 year old students are learning this piece."

Actually, I think that this piece is easy. Haha, don't get mad! I'm joking, but it is learnable to a true virtuoso who thinks not about speed but about propper approach to the instrument.


And also, well said thorn and teosolell. There is nothing more true for a musciain than that: You can do whatever you want. There is no such thing as right or wrong in the world of music, that is as long as it lines up with the will of the musician determining it!

This is the secret of musicianship! And it has been traded in our world for competition, and standards, and expectations, and excessive deadlines.