17 quaver beats in a common 'cut time' bar?

[aloysiusachille]

I'm confused about how to play this section of Rachmaninoff's second piano concerto, as it has 17 quaver beats in one bar...

Any help would be much appreciated!



(I'm new to this forum so I hope the image works out ok.)

[andreslr6]

Well, you just marked it yourself, just like you did it.. 9 quavers in the first beat and 8 on the 2nd. The first group you can subdivide them into 3 groups of 3, or 4 16ths on the left hand and a quintuplet on the right, and the second play them as if they were 16ths, 4 per crotchet.

[kujiraya]

This is probably one of the most squished-marshmallows-with-honey-treacle-maple-syrup-and-honeycomb-ice-cream-in-molten-butter-and-caramel-toffee-sauce pieces in the entire piano repertoire. I can assure you no one will be counting quavers per bar.

You can play those bars while gargling warm chocolate with honeyed mother's milk, and sound a quaver each time some of the warm chocolate spills down your chin and neck, and still claim that your playing was full of feeling and heart-felt rubato.  

[andreslr6]

This is probably one of the most squished-marshmallows-with-honey-treacle-maple-syrup-and-honeycomb-ice-cream-in-molten-butter-and-caramel-toffee-sauce pieces in the entire piano repertoire. I can assure you no one will be counting quavers per bar.

You can play those bars while gargling warm chocolate with honeyed mother's milk, and sound a quaver each time some of the warm chocolate spills down your chin and neck, and still claim that your playing was full of feeling and heart-felt rubato.  

Rach 2 in a nutshell

Though, I really don't know if it's like that because of how it's been played over time, or is it just because that's exactly what it is. Still, I can't stand listening it for more than 4 minutes without getting that sensation of what you describe, which I really don't like to be honest but I know I'm not the only one..