rachmaninoff prelude

[franklin]

i started learning rachmaninoffs prelude in b minor op. 32 no 10 recently.   Today at my lesson my teachers music score was different than mine.  i listened to a recording and my music seemed way off on measures 14 and 15.  could you help me find out the correct way to play it?  its very very frustrating.  somebody help please!

[rmc7777]

Hello Franklin,

By sheer coincidence my piano instructor recently assigned this piece to me and I just started learning it.  When you say measures 14-15 I assume you mean the point where Rachmaninoff indicates "poco piu mosso".  Translated this means "a little faster".  It's also marked mezzo forte, so that's medium loud, or somewhere between loud and soft.  I don't see any crescendo or decrescendo marks in these bars.  There are some phrase marks from D to B in treble, and then E, D, B in treble, and in the descending thirds in the left hand.  Also, there are tenuto marks over D in treble.  There are no pedal marks in my editions but I would use pedal judiciously.  I have both the Schirmer and Kalmus edtions of the preludes.  The two editions look identical for this piece (this is remarkable - usually there are variations in editions).

Given all this I'm thinking of this interpretation.  These two bars should gradually increase in tempo, not a lot though, until bar 16.  I would maintain mezzo forte, because that is what Rachmaninoff asks for.  I would try to find a legato fingering for the descending thirds in the left hand because of the phrase mark.  I would try to bring out the D to B, and then E, D, B in right hand as a melody line, with D just slightly louder.  The triplets form an inner voice and should not drown out the melody line.  There seem to be three voices here - the D to B in right hand, the triplets, and the left-hand thirds.  In an almost Bachian fashion I would try to blend these three voices with the B to D melody line getting most emphasis.  

This is not easy.  I think these two bars will take a lot of work.  I have a recording of this prelude by Vladimir Ashkenazy.  In these bars he does follow the mezzo forte markings and legato touch.  He tends to bring out the triplet inner voices and does not follow Rachmaninoffs poco piu mosso tempo mark.  Instead, he plays it straight through at a fixed tempo.  I suspect you will hear as many interpretations of this as there are artists who recorded it.  So I don't know if there is a correct way to play it.  I don't feel qualified to comment on that.  However, I generally try to follow the composers markings as closely as possible.  Also, if I'm working up a piece for performance I will examine many editions of the piece, including Urtext if I can find it, and listen to many recordings.  I would be interested in hearing how other pianists interpret this piece.

Hope this helps and good luck!  

[franklin]

wow, thanks for all  your help.  if you dont mind i was also wondering about the melody where it is marked tempo one.  i think it is bar 22.  how do i know what the melody is?  i only have one recording of the song(i dont know who is playing)  and im finding my teacher isnt much help either.  How do i keep it from sounding like im banging  the same chord over and over?  thanks

[pskim]

I have played this piece many times when I was a university students and just played it a week ago.  And yes, this piece is tricky when it comes to the middle section.  I don't have the score in front of me but I think the dynamic indication is ff, am I right?  

Anyway, the point is do NOT play the chords out loud.  This section needs to grow in volume and if you play this ff from the start you won't have anywhere else left to go.  And also the inner melody must be heard.  If you play the chords too loud the melody will be drowned my the massive sound.  I suggest that you don't take the dynamic marking literally.  Think of bells.  Rachmaninoff loved bells.  I hope this somewhow helped out.  

[rmc7777]

Hi pskim and Franklin,

In the Tempo I section I really agree with pskim.  There are 15 bars of really massive sound here.  You can make an impression on your listeners.  They'll say 'Wow, he can really bang the piano!'.  Unfortunately, I don't think banging the piano is the impression you want to give.  

So how do we play this part.  Well, I'm still learning the piece too, so I might change my mind as I become more intimately familiar with it, but I think I would do this.  Around bar 18 it's marked 'pesante', or heavy and ponderous, but still mezzo forte.  So I think Rachmaninoff wants to start building a large sound.  Then it's marked poca a poc cresc. or more crescendo for a few bars and then ritardando.  I would build from mezzo forte to double forte with a ritard before the Tempo I.  Note the second double forte around bar 30.  That's 8 bars of double forte between the first and second double forte.  That's a lot of sound so you probably need to 'do something' in here.  I will probably descrendo before the second double forte and then bring it back up again.  There is yet another double forte around bar 34.  I think this third ff is the climax of the section so it will have a broad, loud sound, until the diminuendo.  I noticed there seem to be several modulations from major to minor keys, and vice-versa, so I might also change the dynamics a little at these modulations.  

As for the melody, I think he marks this pretty well with the accents.  The accented chords define the melody so they should stand above all the triplet chords, which I think are mostly accompaniment and effect.  It will be a challenge to balance the melody with all the big sound of the triplet chords.  I might try bringing out the upper notes of the melody chords to emphasize the melody itself.  I can see many hours ahead of practicing just the melody line, and just the accompaniment chords, so the two are balanced well.

I think this piece will be a challenge to play well, and play musically.  Ashkenazy plays it more or less as I explained above, although I think I would use a little more dynamic contrast than he does.  It will be interesting to hear other pianist's interpretations of this prelude.

[Cecin_Koot]

wow this was made in 2002.  i wonder how these guys are going 3 years later. 

this page was at the very end of all posts.  i think it deserves to go back to the top. 

[aajjmb]

wow this was made in 2002.  i wonder how these guys are going 3 years later. 

this page was at the very end of all posts.  i think it deserves to go back to the top. 

wow lol u were sure surfing old pages:P

[ravel]

i am sure people have heard horowitz playing this etude.  he plays it sooooooooooooo much more faster than its supposed to be played.  i heard this piece the first time on the art of piano video and loved it. the first recording i heard of it after that was horowitz's . and then i heard ashkenazy and richter.  horowitz plays at like double the speed or something. how can one take that much libery with a score?  even if it is horowitz. 
in any case i loved horowitz version as well as richter and ashkenazy's