Awkward LH Chord in Rachmaninoff Op 32 No 10

[devbanana]

Been learning the Prelude in B minor, Op 32 No 10 by Rachmaninoff. And most of it isn't too bad, but there's a really awkward chord in the left hand around measure 30 or so. For reference there's a Tempo I section starting around measure 22, and this is several measures into that.

Anyway in the left hand there is a C# octave with F# and B in the middle. Well, it's played as triplets throughout the whole measure.

And it's just a really awkward finger span, especially to hit so many times rapidly. I'm currently taking the F# with finger 3 and the B with finger 2, but that feels awkward and even a bit painful after a while, and sometimes if I don't get the angle just right, I accidentally play an A# in the mix, too. I've tried taking the F# with finger 4 but then there's a really awkward span between F# and C#.

Not sure the best way to tackle this.

Hopefully that's clear. I'm visually impaired learning off of braille music so can't really take a picture of the section I'm talking about.

[essence]

Would anybody notice if you left out the upper C# ?

There are probably many other interpretation issues which are more important.

Pianists make compromises for small hands all the time.

Don;t sweat it. It is not important.

[devbanana]

Thanks. Yeah that's an idea; there's so much else going on I doubt it'd be noticed.

[lelle]

For my hand, it's more feasible to stretch between C# and F# using 5-4 rather than stretching between F# and B using 3-2. But it is a bit awkward and might require the hand to have developed a bit of muscle from playing, assuming it's simply not too small to play this span comfortably. Rachmaninoff had absolutely huge hands so he wasn't bothered by this type of chord.

I'd experiment with removing either the B or the C# on top of the left hand chord and see what gives you a sonority closest to the original.

When the chord comes in another voice as a dotted quarter note you have the opportunity to play the full chord by taking the top note with the right hand's thumb instead, further covering your tracks, as it were