Question about Rach. prelude op.3 no.2

[chev_bigblock]

Hey,  I'm kind of a new person here, I read this forum all the time, but this is my first posting.  Anyway, I'm just a beginner and have been taking lessons for  seven months, and I'm just moving so I don't have my teacher anymore (I'm in the process of finding a new one) (man this is a run on sentence) and my teacher gave me some pieces to work on while I'm looking for a new teacher.  So, one of these pieces is Rachmaninoff's prelude in c# minor(op.3 no.2), and I just have a really quick question about it.  It is this:  How the heck am I supposed to play measure 52?  Before on measure 46 (where the two staves changes to four) there is a similar problem where the c#'s are played then the other notes come in after (I just assumed to hold it with the pedal) , but in 52 they are played at the same time, and I know that is not humanly possible for someone to play that.  I don't know if this is making any sense, but if you know what I'm rambling on about and know how it is generally played please feel free to give advice.

[robert]

A beginner playing Rach's op.3 no.2?! What a beginner.
I am sorry but I don't really understand what your question is about. Do you mean if the keys are played at the same time with left and right hand (because according to my score, there are an 8:th difference between them all the time)? Please try to explain better and I will try to help you.

[greyrune]

just play the bass notes first then skip up to the top ones quite fast.  You don't have to rush it too much, it's meant to sound like that.  And damned good job if you can play this after 7 months, it's a gorgeous piece but hardly easy.

[chev_bigblock]

Sorry about that it is a really unclear question, and I will try to do better.  I also need to introduce myself a little better.  I am eighteen, and taught myself the piano when I was younger (about eight or nine, I was then only able to play out of the Alfred's piano books for children, level 3, we had a few of those sitting around the house as most of my sisters took piano lessons but quit after not to long), so a while ago I decided I'd take lessons, and have been taking them for seven months.  I guess that's kind of a beginner, I don't really know what is, I don't know what the exact definition is.

As for the question I'll try again, I'm using the sheetmusic off of sheetmusicarchive.net, here's the link if you want to look at it:    

http://www.sheetmusicarchive.net/compositions_b/racprelc.pdf

Sorry, I'd make it a link you could click on, but I'm computer stupid.
I'm looking at the last page (page 105 on that sheetmusicarchive music)
It has two staves for the right hand, and two for the left hand.  My trouble is that it has me playing about fifty billion notes about fifty billion octaves all apart, all in on chord at the same time.  

When it first has four staves (measure 46) you play the four half note c#'s, and there is an eight rest in the top staves of both hands, and then it has the three chords in eighth notes, then and eighth rest (at which point the hands go down and play a naturals in octaves).  I hope you know where I mean, on that part I play the C#'s, and then hold that with the pedal, and play the chords in the top staves.   But in measure 52 it has the c#'s and the other chords ( C#, E, and G#) all playing at the same time, and it spans a total of 6 octaves, I know nobody has hands big enough, (or enough fingers) to play that.  

I also noticed it has brackets by those notes, which I must admit I don't know what they are, and they could be the answer to my question.  Thanks again, and I'm sorry I'm a babbling idiot  that doesn't know how to explain himself very well.

[chev_bigblock]

just play the bass notes first then skip up to the top ones quite fast.  You don't have to rush it too much, it's meant to sound like that.  And damned good job if you can play this after 7 months, it's a gorgeous piece but hardly easy.

Thanks, I guess that's what those brackets mean, I also saw them in Gershwins second prelude ( which I finished about two months ago), on some of the "stretchier" chords, and figured they had something to do with that (but ignored them because I had big enough hands to handle them (that brings up another question should I play the chords marked with the brackets in a "jump up kind of way" or is it alright to play them at the same time if I can handle?)).  Thanks for all the help.

[Barbosa-piano]

   Those passages with brackets are interpreted by hiting the bass C# notes and skipping very quickly to the upper notes. I had the same question when I started playing this piece. Would be very good for you to watch Hofmann's performance on video of this piece and hear Rachmaninoff's recording of it. 

[robert]

chev_bigblock: It is me who should say sorry for not reading you post properly. It was pretty obvious (now reading it a second time) what you meant and Barbosa-piano has provided the correct answer. Watching Josef Hofmann might make you loose confidence because there we have one of history's best piano player and he makes these jumps very very quick, still with perfect result. I have not seen "the video" myself but he is usually a wonderful piano player with a very special feel and touch...when he did not look to deep in the bottle (he was a heavy drinker).

What you do to achieve correct tempo is to play the 4 chords a bit faster than a metronome indication to "catch up" the beat for each bar. I hope you understand what I mean. This is a rather difficult task. Good luck!