Rachmaninoff - Chopin variations

[Kapellmeister27]

i recently came upon one of my rachmaninoff books and found in the back that he has a quite lengthy set of varioations in chopin's prelude in c minor.  it seems very interesting because i love that prelude but i have never heard of it before.  it also looks extremely difficult.  anyone here heard of it or played it or know any recordings.
if so, is it as difficult as it looks (maybe compared to brahms-paganini)?

[lenny]

ive only heard samples - but id recommend berezovsky's recording

i have the sheetmusic and i wouldnt say its anywhere near as difficult as the brahms-paganini

also - busoni composed another piece based upon this theme, with a fugue to cap it off!

i have the ogdon recording of the latter.

[shasta]

Yes, I am familiar with them, and you're right, they are extremely challenging and extremely beautiful.  <-- Give them a try!  Unfortunately and somewhat surprisingly, they are not heard very often.  I have done Rach's Corelli Variations, which I found a little more manageable and I feel are played slightly more often than the Chopin.

[steinwayguy]

Yeah definitely not as hard as the Paganini Variations. I learned a page of those (Rach-Chopin) once. I didn't really like it so I stopped.

[Musicag]

Some recordings of the whole thing easy to find are:

Idil Biret
Howard Shelley

These are at the top of my head. I have a few others I need to dig out.

[DarkWind]

These variations are ok in my opinion, but eventually they wander off to resemble little to the theme. Also, while we are on the subject of his variations, is it just me, or does the theme for the Corelli variations sound A LOT like Handel's Sarabande in D Minor?

[fergal]

 I think these variations are wonderfully written and unfortunately largely neglected.  Perhaps not as taut in construction as the corelli set, yet still display sublime artistry in the piano writing. Definately recommend Berezovsky version, though he omits all the 'optional' variations which seems a bit of a shame.