Rachmaninoff Sonata 2 Mvt. 2 (1913)

[rtheunissen]

Hello everyone,

I know not everyone is a fan of this sonata, but especially the second movement is gorgeous in my eyes. I've been considering learning it for next semester, but I'm hesitant to ask my teacher because I don't know how tough it really is. This first semester I've been working on Haydn Hob.XVI:37, Chopin Op. 72 No. 1, and some smaller Bach works as well as some easier etudes to ensure that my basics are sound. Does it sound like an achievable piece for next semester? I also have to work on a classical sonata, a prelude and fuge and a post-romantic piece, for which I could choose some slightly less demanding pieces to compensate.

Let me know, I'm really curious... Some other options I've been thinking about are Rachmaninoff Prelude in B minor, Scriabin Poème Op. 32 No. 1 or 2, some of Brahms' piano pieces or Schumann Kinderszenen (in its entirety).

[roboute guilliman cfa]

I've learned the Horowitz version but if I picked it up again I'd learn the 1931 version as the definitive one. It's the most deeply unpianistic thing Rach ever wrote outside the Rach 3, significantly harder than any of the Chopin ballades, scherzi, polonaises, and almost everything Liszt wrote outside of his opera transcriptions.

Octaves with thumb and fourth finger, alternating with the pinky playing a note, in the 2nd movement. This type of chord movement in the 1st and 2nd movement where you play up and down the scale diatonically keeping the same voicing structure, is also hard, requiring complete vertical lift off the keys and a strong quick firing wrist. 

3rd movement with tied legato chords, chromatic double notes (but they are short, it's manageable enough without needing a lot of double note development), triplets with the double notes mixed with single notes with the stretches between the 1st and 3rd finger, and 3rd and pinky that are very uncomfortable for regular sized hands. The coda has a lot of fatiguing work in the shorter but still challenging jumps.

Ideally you would have a few of the 9+ min Chopin/Liszt pieces for general familiarity handling longer Romantic works but it is possible to attempt it from having only learned etudes. I would want to play at least 4 or 5 of the following, Scriabin etude op 42 no 7, Bortkiewiz etude no 2 (or something similar, that develops broken chords, where you play double notes with thumb+index, then the rest of the chord with the 4rth and 5th fingers). Rach preludes op 23 no 2 and no 5 are good for the left hand stretchy arpeggios over two octaves. Scriabin op 8 no 5 (if you play it faster than Scriabin marked it) was a key piece for me getting comfortable moving your hands over wide distance constantly, Rach etude-tableau op 33 no 7 (sometimes this gets numbered differently but I mean the e flat major one) is a great, short piece that will give you a lot of the jumping/repositioning and general mobility, as well as the skills where your right hand is constantly playing the thumb and another lower finger, and then an upper finger, that the Rach 2 coda requires.