I'll do my best to answer your questions. While I don't have any experience playing concertos (I'm currently learning my first one), I do have experience playing piano in a wind orchestra, as well as a lot of chamber music through professional accompanying.
- For a pianist who has been playing since 3-4 years, is it possible, technically and musically even
This will depend on you. I'm going to say that it will probably be very challenging. I happened to have written a list of potential technical difficulties in the 1st and 2nd movements of this concerto (I did this 2 years ago), I will copy them (for the 2nd mov) here as maybe it will help you gauge whether you can tackle them:
- 4 against 3 between piano and orchestra
- wide spreads / tricky pedalling
- 3 against 4 between piano and orchestra
- 3 against 2
- left hand passage work
- left hand: index to thumb from a 4th+ above thumb
- trill like passages
- 2 against 3 polyrhythms
- octaves with sustained note(s) in between
- Cadenza: repeated intervals, trill in both hands
- My Hand-Span is only an Octave. Considering it's Rachmaninov, can I still do it
Yes, for chords that span more than an octave you would to either roll them, or play part of the chord before the rest, like a grace note (kind of like how a string player would play a 3 or 4 note chord). I recommend watching this video from the pianist Ching-Yun Hu:
- The 2nd half of the movement consists of technically demanding elements. How do I tackle these
I recommend you watch this from the pianist Josh Wright (I recommend also checking out his youtube channel, along with another pianist named Graham Fitch):
https://www.joshwrightpiano.com/webinar.html If I would summarize practicing it would be this: Cut up a problem into digestable chunks, then slowly combine to the small chunks to make bigger ones, keep doing that until you get the full piece.
Also, since you're in university then you have a teacher to give you 1 on 1 advice.
- I've never played with an orchestra so to those who have, I kindly ask your experiences and how I should myself, prepare to play.
Chamber music will help in playing with others, since you're in university you probably have to do that anyway as part of your degree. Piano duets can also help.
Also, study the orchestra part, this can be time consuming so at least look at the second piano part (reduced version of the orchestra).
Also, you should be able to look at the conductor at crucial points (so make sure you can still play while looking away from your hands at those points), generally the conductor will follow the soloist, but if the soloist doesn't have any notes then that would be impossible, haha
- I know 3 months is most definitely not enough to develop my own interpretation and letting it sink in so, at what time should I have the notes under my hands confidently and at what time should I start orchestral rehearsals
From what I know you would usually have rehearsals with a second pianist playing the orchestral reduction (probably your teacher), but if your university gives you an opportunity to rehearse with an orchestra right away, that's cool but also kind of nerve racking. If you're rehearsing with the orchestra you should have it performance ready.
Also you ask about when you should start orchestral rehearsal, usually it's the orchestra that sets that up, not the pianist
- (cheeky bonus question) Can i learn the entire concerto in 2 years, learn all the notes, make it my own, as I'm planning to make it my final major work, which has to be a 40 minute recital.
If you think a work will take you 2 years (let's say you mean memorize and be performance ready to a certain point, not necessarily perfect), then you're probably not ready for it as it is very likely that you will get discouraged and . Check out this other video by Josh Wright about pacing your repertoire. Link:
Ear training is important, so it's good that you have that. But also work on your reading skills.
Topic: Rachmaninov Concerto No. 2 mvt. 2 Adagio Sostenuto??