Should I learn rach 3?

[smashedpasta]

I think reading the headline your immediate answer is no. Give me a chance though

I'm turning 19 in 2 weeks. I've been playing piano for 13 or 14 years, have played scherzo no 2, ballade no 1 (never mastered it enough and i always put that off), HR2 (I sometimes come back to it to improve it) I am also learning jeux d'eau

I've been obsessed with rach 3 since september, and have listened to it at least a hundred times, and i know if i start to learn it it'll be maybe a couple years to 5 years before I finish it and play it at least just decently or I'll never finish it. I also know that playing it with an orchestra is very much a pipe dream. As of now I've learned the first page and a half at around full speed, and then a few lines here and there that I've memorized

I don't want it to be perfect, I just want to experience playing it by myself, for myself at a level I'm just satisfied with enough

Oh, I also think I have to say that when I'm productive I play around 2 hours a day. Otherwise 1 hour or less.

Should I continue learning it or wait a bit before that? And how long to wait and what pieces to play before I get to it?

[perfect_pitch]

You need to wait a while... I did HR 2 in Uni, same with Scherzo No 2 in Year 12 High school. Ballade No. 1 in 2nd year uni.

The technical difficulty (let alone the musical maturity) needed to play this piece (and to perform it) is miles beyond a couple of Chopin Pieces.

Try playing a couple of larger works like Franks Prelude, Choral and Fugue, Busoni's Bach Chaconne in d minor arranged for Piano, and a Brahms Piano Concerto and you'll get closer to it.

The fact that you also never mastered the Scherzo or the Ballade is a big red flag unfortunately.

If you love piano - there will be a day you are ready for it, but right now - it isn't here. I spent the better part of a year learning it - and I mean 8 hours each day on the weekends, and 3 hours each night after work.

[essence]

There are different levels of 'learning'. If you just want to run through it and enjoy it, go ahead. But that is not the same as learning ALL the notes at the correct speed.

Just enjoy the bits you can manage.

[transitional]

Try playing a couple of larger works like Franks Prelude, Choral and Fugue, Busoni's Bach Chaconne in d minor arranged for Piano, and a Brahms Piano Concerto and you'll get closer to it.

I'm just wondering, why would Brahms Concerto 2 be a piece to prepare for Rach 3? They are both equally monumental concertos with unique difficulties. I shouldn't be one to judge, since you've played far more difficult pieces than I have, but shouldn't OP play less difficult pieces to work up to their goal piece?

I agree with essence—there are always parts you can play around with that are less difficult than the more climatic sections. I've done this with tons of pieces, and just keep developing them as my playing improves.

[liszt-and-the-galops]

Are you hoping to learn the solo piano version or the piano part within the orchestral version?
Also, I'm assuming you mean Chopin's when you say "Scherzo no. 2 and Ballade no. 1," but some clarification on whose Scherzo/Ballade that is would be nice.

[smashedpasta]

Are you hoping to learn the solo piano version or the piano part within the orchestral version?
Also, I'm assuming you mean Chopin's when you say "Scherzo no. 2 and Ballade no. 1," but some clarification on whose Scherzo/Ballade that is would be nice.

Yes, I'm referring to Chopin's, and I want to learn the piano part within the orchestral version.

[smashedpasta]

I'm just wondering, why would Brahms Concerto 2 be a piece to prepare for Rach 3? They are both equally monumental concertos with unique difficulties. I shouldn't be one to judge, since you've played far more difficult pieces than I have, but shouldn't OP play less difficult pieces to work up to their goal piece?

I agree with essence—there are always parts you can play around with that are less difficult than the more climatic sections. I've done this with tons of pieces, and just keep developing them as my playing improves.

That's what I'm planning to do after the replies I've gotten (what essence said)
Thank you!

[smashedpasta]

I'm just wondering, why would Brahms Concerto 2 be a piece to prepare for Rach 3? They are both equally monumental concertos with unique difficulties. I shouldn't be one to judge, since you've played far more difficult pieces than I have, but shouldn't OP play less difficult pieces to work up to their goal piece?

I agree with essence—there are always parts you can play around with that are less difficult than the more climatic sections. I've done this with tons of pieces, and just keep developing them as my playing improves.

That's what I'm planning to do after the replies I've gotten (what essence said)
Thank you!

You need to wait a while... I did HR 2 in Uni, same with Scherzo No 2 in Year 12 High school. Ballade No. 1 in 2nd year uni.

The technical difficulty (let alone the musical maturity) needed to play this piece (and to perform it) is miles beyond a couple of Chopin Pieces.

Try playing a couple of larger works like Franks Prelude, Choral and Fugue, Busoni's Bach Chaconne in d minor arranged for Piano, and a Brahms Piano Concerto and you'll get closer to it.

The fact that you also never mastered the Scherzo or the Ballade is a big red flag unfortunately.

If you love piano - there will be a day you are ready for it, but right now - it isn't here. I spent the better part of a year learning it - and I mean 8 hours each day on the weekends, and 3 hours each night after work.

Thank you for your input! I'll check those out. I'll just learn the easier parts for now, and wait until I improve for the harder parts.

[perfect_pitch]

I'm just wondering, why would Brahms Concerto 2 be a piece to prepare for Rach 3? They are both equally monumental concertos with unique difficulties.

I was technically referring to the 1st one which is more manageable and less difficult than the second one.

My apologies... but my point as well is you need to build up and do even a few concerti before you try and tackle the Rach 3.

I even played the Beethoven in c minor before trying the Brahms, and a few Mozart before the Beethoven; plus the various other pieces I mentioned.

[essence]

I enjoy playing the first few pages of Rach3, the climactic parts of the first movement, the first few pages of the slow movement, and some parts of the last movement.

To be honest, the first movement is not overall too difficult, apart from the number of notes? I also enjoy playing both versions of the 1st movement cadenza.

It's either that, or I go the the gym.

ps. the first two pages are very hard to interpret. How do you do the rit. on the second page? I think of a boat on water rocking throughout, but at the rit. there is an extra large wave. I once heard a recording loaned to me by Michael Tanner (look him up) which had an absolutely exquisite rit. with orchestra, but I have no idea who the performer was - historic. I always use that bar to evaluate competition finalists - they all fail.

[dizzyfingers]

Should I continue learning [Rach 3]?

Yes.

[morrisjd]

I think every piano player has a dream of playing the Rach 3.  Having many different recordings and listening to it over the years, I have a visualization of the piece in my mind and how it should be played.  And so far, no pianist has been able to fully reach the necessary technical-physical skill to play it with full integrity as I imagine.  That being said, there are several professional pianists who really play it approaching this ideal.  My favorite being Byron Janis.  I would also say that some of the music of Rach that sounds easy to play is actually more difficult than it sounds.  This is different from Chopin, where something might sound very difficult to play, but with the correct technique and fingering is "relatively" easy to play.  Not so with Rachmaninoff.  You get the feeling that he exploited his very large hands by writing musical passages that are very awkward to play with normal sized hands.  Chopin seemed to create difficult passages, but yet they fit the hand much better in comparison.
In listening to the #3, I figured that the easiest part to learn would be the "slow" section that opens up the Second (Intermezzo) Movement.  When you listen, it doesn't sound that difficult, so I considered making part of it into a solo piece. 
You can start using the 30 measure orchestral introduction (Piano II) which is fairly easy to learn.  The next 95 measures are mostly piano solo with some minor orchestral accompaniment that can be ignored.  This makes your solo piece.  To me it sounded easier to play than my actual experience, and it took a lot of work to learn.
If you learn the entire concerto (from memory), then my hat is off to you!

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Stop postulating about it and just go for it.

What’s the worst case scenario?  You start learning it and realize it’s over your head so you stop learning it?  And maybe you come out of it with some real cool passages learned? 

If you like a song, learn it.  If you can’t play it then play something else.  Idk whats the point behind waiting till you’re “ready”.  Like what does ready even mean?

People told me I gotta do the Beethoven’s, the Mozart’s, the Chopin’s, and Rach 2 first.  But I didn’t give a sh*t and decided to do Rach 3 anyways.  It was the second concerto I learned AND performed and I have zero regrets.