Just to clarify: I was reading from the full score but for ease of explanation, the 2-piano score is sometimes used in the video. At 29:09, I say that the cellos are playing in tenor clef. In fact the violas are playing and it is an alto clef. Apologies for any confusion.
The criticism Rachmaninov endured in his early years brings to mind an anecdote. When touring North America, Rachmaninov and his wife dined at the Royal York, Toronto's top hotel. The string ensemble were aware of him and played to their utmost. After the meal, he rose and escorted his wife from the dining room. The ensemble was crestfallen - he had not so much as looked their way. Then Rachmaninov re-entered the dining room, walked to the front, and bowed deeply to the ensemble.
"I'm gonna attempt to sight read" and then proceed to play it smoothly while singing and talking, and with brakes for gesticulating 😅 ❤ that was wonderful and highly enjoyable like all your content. 👏
During more than a year, this channel has been presented to me by the Holy Algorithm. And at some point, I pressed the subscribe button. Of the more recent episodes, I recall Chopin, Beethoven and Joplin And they have been stunningly good. I think the two of you have found your right place. Having enjoyed several good teachers, in music theory, piano and violin, I marvel at this composition professor. UA-cam offers a liberty no-one gets at the conservatory. Use this opportunity! Don't worry about trying to be complete! That's a futile endeavor anyway. Listen to your heart and talk about what feels the most urgent. Your inner voice is the key to spirited lectures.
So I am 16 years old and I absolutely love this concerto, what happened is I just began to read every single note of it. I can now play the first and the second movement as I am writing this right now. Some of you might think that I am just a little kid just happened to like this piece as a hobby wich you might think I gave up on it, but I quickly realized how difficult this piece truly is however I didn’t gave up on it. I truly spend all day figuring out all the different melodies, themes and harmonies. Now this piece isn’t a piece you could just sit down and just start playing, all though I am impressed you actually did it very quickly. A few of my teachers told me that this is wrong and “I still have to go a long way”, instead I should focus on other pieces like chopin etudes for example. I don’t really know why he is saying that and crush all my dreams with it. I am self taught and my local piano teachers (i am sorry) can’t really teach me all that. I know my theory and I absolutely love this concerto, and I thought maybe at the university I can get help and learn more. I am hoping that you can give me some at advice. As always thank you so much, I really enjoyed this video, I wish you a great day today.
Please continue with this. This piece has special meaning for me. My mother was a professional pianist. Growing up, I often heard her playing this concerto. She related to Rachmaninoff on a personal level, as there was much sorrow in her life; his music was often a comfort to her. She passed away in 2020. It's a wonderful masterwork.
Please continue this analysis with a follow up video, I’m dying to hear you talk about this movement’s climax and return of the main theme. Thanks for the great video 😄
Great video. Rachmaninov is a composer whose greatness I’ve grown to recognise and respect greatly, but whose aesthetic I’ve not really warmed to. It’s important, as musicians, to be able to recognise that one can not be fond of a composer’s out, and also admire its greatness, when it’s real. There really shouldn’t be cognitive dissonance with that. That a piece doesn’t particularly resonate with us, does NOT mean it’s crap! Also I’d argue that the harmonies work so well BECAUSE the counterpoint is so carefully thought through
Great comment. Rachmaninoff's technical facility and harmonic fluency is undoubtably great but personally i find his musical temperament and sensibilities don't really resonate with me
I really feel that Rachmaninoff was a genius at melody writing. His melodies are beautifully expressive, and so perfectly balanced. The emotional impact of his music is very, very strong.
Thanks for this excellent video! Yes, please, go ahead with some more videos about this extraordinary piece of music! I love your explanations and analysis.
When I studied for my music degree at Manchester Uni in the 80’s, the whole 3 year course skipped from Brahms to early Schoenberg as though the late romantic period didn’t exist or maybe should just be ignored in polite academic circles. Thanks for shining your light on this.
That kind of thing still goes on. A former student of mine told me that he asked a question about Rachmaninov during a recent history lecture and received a very disdainful response from the professor.
Yeah interesting how he's fallen into an automatic disregard box, he also it seems kind of felt it in his time, mentioning that he felt like a dinosaur, which I can kind of understand: composing in a time of stravinsky, ravel and schoenberg and others..
But actually I think he's a much more modernist figure than people think. At the time, many of his his pieces were thought to be dissonant and complicated. In many ways he's roughly equivalent to Ravel (who was junior by only 2 years)
When I was a music major in the 1970s at a prestigious U.S. public university with some very famous musicologists on the faculty, the textbook we used for the sophomore-year music history survey course didn't mention Rachmaninoff at all (I still have the book).
Great analysis. The more I listen to (and read) Rachmaninov, the more I hear a real sense of structure and motivic unity behind the achingly beautiful melodies. A much underestimated composer. I would welcome your further exploration of this work.
I think the apparent spontaneity of these videos, plus the wide range of subjects is a feature, not a bug. I'm happy to be able to learn something about all sorts of music and composers that I either don't know anything about or know only very little about. So I personally like this current format ☺ Happy 2025!
There was a moment at 18:17 when you began to play the inner parts of the opening chords that made me realize it almost mimics the rising and falling of the great secondary theme (from the first movement), or maybe even hinting to the greater 'rising theme' that subtly permeates the entire concerto. The second movement's introduction uses that 'rising theme' too, as does the end (still of the second movement) make a little reference to it. But I went and gave the whole thing another listen only to really notice for the first time some of the similarities between the first and third movements. They begin as soon as the piano enters (especially in Rachmaninoff's own recording, he really emphasizes the low note accents like in the accompaniment during the first movements exposition, you even talk about that at 21:21). But I was most surprised to see that those iconic opening chords (still in F minor even) reappear! But now spread across the orchestra and almost completely unrecognizable just before the main theme of the third movement enters. It would be nice to hear a full analysis (eventually maybe aha) as the whole concerto is spectacular, especially the second movement.
Welcome back and Happy New Year! Rach 2: A Plagal Palindrome. What a curious and wonderful way of approaching and appreciating this piece. It's also not surprising that he was derided by his contemporaries. Human can be very cruel to that which they don't understand. The Isle of the Dead is one of my favorite of his works. I can stare at the painting while listening to it and be transported. For me, he is a sublime composer.
Delightfully enjoyable ! I have listened and enjoyed this piece for decades, I noted many things you mentioned but being only an amateur student, it's enjoyable and enlightening to see these things properly pointed out and with historical context ! I felt this as an enjoyable university class ! I also appreciate the flow and natural fluency of the class ! Thank you !
Great video professor. Glad to see some love for Rachmaninov’s second. My teachers always went on about his third which is also great but the second is his true magnum opus in my humble opinion.
Outstanding analysis. Rack 2 is one of my all time favourites along with various Bach. Thanks so much. I make Dubstep and Drill music in a digital audio workstation for a Moroccan and London rapper but I still love my classical roots. Thanks so much. )
You could easily gush for another hour about the Rach 2 and keep my full attention. That is a great piece. I ignore people who don't like it just because it's played so much. It doesn't get old even after 100 years.
No, that’s a remarkable thing about that concerto - almost all music becomes tedious if one has listened to it too much, say hundreds of times. Rach 2 is one of the few pieces I never tire of.
my dear mother introduced me to this piece in my teens, and I struggled through parts of it, picking those I wanted to understand more about how he did it. Fifty years on and it's still got a magical hold over me. Thanks for this, I enjoyed the bio background too and would be very interested in a continuation via series.
I've watched this twice, and despite knowing these concertos pretty deeply, I really enjoyed your enthusiasm for the piece, and you pointed out a couple of things I haven't really noticed before! It would be great if you're inclined to make more on this, and his other concertos - there seems to be a distinct lack of detailed videos about his works on UA-cam, and you make it really engaging and accessible. I would gladly pay for it 🙏
When I deal with such issues I simply remind myself that we are all children at heart and we grow at different rates. Then it’s easier to keep a relationship with that person.
Incredible analysis of the concerto and exuberance for it. This is one of my favourite piano concertos. Rachmaninoff has so many beautifully crafted compositions and shows how marvellous he was as a composer and musician.
It's great that you (and those of a similar affinity) can at last openly express this enthusiasm for an unfashionably late romantic. When I was studying, back in the 80's, there were a few of us who would listen to Rachmaninoff almost as an anti-contemporary pose but there's so much to his music as you have wonderfully pointed out in this video. Another installment would be most welcome.
I enjoyed your explanations, demonstrations and even the mistakes; I'm so used to hearing the polished end product that I don't appreciate the difficulty of the piece. Thank you. Are you going to do a further explanation of the rest of number 2? Rachmaninov is my favourite composer!
The instruction to violins to play sul G is very important orchestration. Not only does it effectively remove the need to mark a very intended portamento, playing the entire opening theme on the lowest string gives a deep male vocal like resonance to the extended line and makes the transition to violas more integrated. Study of Bach, in particular the Inventions, was a core part of Russian, and later Soviet, musical training. The composer not only knew that music well but could play it very well. There are plenty of passages in his work that can't really be played properly without having that specific keyboard facility. It's also worth considering that his frequent use of Phrygian was at the time regarded as very daring and exotically evocative of his partially Central Asian background. The piece has become such a byword for lush Romanticism that we don't appreciate that. And I'm sure you're aware that the little "DNA" figure introduced almost in disguise under the "tolling bells" as part of the opening cadence also appears at the Piu vivo (rehearsal mark 8). And reappears constantly throughout all the other movements - If you want to really go to town, you can find it almost everywhere in various transformations. Not much is arbitrarily chosen... Also interesting to consider that the first movement was written last.
I find the opening piano accompaniment oddly intuitive and comfortable to play, even at speed. It all falls so well under the fingers and flows so naturally. Rachmaninov was simultaneously a master of melody and complexity that never strays into inaccessibility for the pianist.
I'll never forget the first time I've heard this concerto, and as well because I have never heard of Rachmaninoff in the first place, and I have never forgotten his name ever since.
My first visit to your site and thank you so very much for this. Amazing and very enlightening - thank you so much ! * Rachmaninoff was 6’6” (2 metres) tall so that might explain his amazing hand stretches.
Your best yet! Profound commentary about encouragement and confidence and the constant judgement surrounding musicians. Also a compelling case for the quality of the music. 👍🏼👍🏼
“Sounds so good” - absolutely! Your sharing the moving backstory, beautiful sight-reading performance - and your laughter reflecting on the critics sound so good too!! Happy New Year, Professor!
Counterpoints in the works of Rachmaninov are everywhere. Symphony No.2 has quite a few breathtaking melodies which I just can't imagine a human mind can produce, but other than that each section is sort of like a chamber music piece on its own, and it's stunning how he managed to have those large structures interwoven without sounding annoying and cheap. Might have something to do with his deep study to Bach's work later in life
Happy New Year, prof... So glad this content is here - warm, generous and enthusiastic, almost like you're be discovering stuff for the first time so there's a kid getting a present quality as well! Of course, it hardly needs to be said, but that effusive effortlessness is based on a truly authentic ear, experience and expertise - truly excellent!! Have a great 2025!🎉
Totally right about Rachmaninov versus his reputation. I struggled to get past that same barrage of misinformation. Eric Blum ( ?) had a lot to answer for! I don’t there is any composer who wrote such fabulous romantic music!
you can't leave us hanging! of course do the whole thing! there's so much detail to cover and your insights are joy to hear because the music clearly brings you joy - it's infectious! criticism from musicologists, or even from other famous and/or successful composers isn't necessarily fair criticism. all of them are subject to the same human weaknesses of jealousy, inflated ego and all the rest. the fact is, Rachmaninov has written much that is loved and respected and played widely. we're lucky to live in time of accessibility to not just music, but music criticism (positive and negative) and get to make up our own minds what we like or don't. what I like about your analysis is that small details that I knew/absorbed through frequent listening are given a name and structure that I don't have the technical skills to do myself. selfish I know, but it's validating!
Thank you for this truly insightful content, so beautifully and enthusiastically presented. What a treat! I'm a mere music lover with some musical education and Rachmaninoff has always been very close to my heart. I was shocked to hear these arrogant and disrespectful comments about the great composer by his contemporaries. In my humble opinion it maybe is Rachmaninoff's enormous talent and facility both as a pianist and composer which makes the music heartbreakingly beautiful and effortlessly listenable despite the complexity and sophistication of its elements, stretched to the limits of what the instrument can achieve. Still probably unsurpassed, especially the 3rd concerto. Probably among the most talented of all great composers, like Chopin and Mozart. This is something to be admired not condemned. I enjoyed the latest Pletnev performances for their lack of showmanship and focus on musical quality of the concertos. Interesting tempos. What do you think?Thank you again.
If you remove the F note from the beginning melody in the piano, you get Ab-G-C as in the incipit and throughout the famous C# minor prelude (of course one half-tone higher). Great video!
Yes - I almost discussed the connection between the 2 pieces because of course the end of the prelude is very like the beginning of the concerto. I may talk about this in Part 2!
More Rach 2? Yes please. I came across this piece only recently and was kind of shocked; why had I not heard this before? Sure, everyone knows "Full Moon and Empty Arms" is based on one of the themes, but I didn't know the whole piece is filled with these wonderful romantic melodies traded between the piano and different sections of the orchestra. So complex and layered, and yet also accessible. No wonder it's used in so many movies. (The Wikipedia article has a list in the "Modern reception and legacy" section.) I've now listened to the piece many times, and yes, it's definitely meant for virtuoso performers, so I'm impressed that you were able to sight read as much of it as you did.
More please!! Not since Jorge Bolet's masterclass on this concerto (on BBC 2 TV in 1985) has so much insight and entertainment been crammed into 35 minutes...and you're barely through the 1st movement! So please, more, lots more.
My all-time favorite concerto by a nose over the equally brilliant Brahms Violin Concerto. Had the privilege to play 3d horn on the Rach 2 PC a couple years back. What an experience.
Also worth listening to is Margaret Whiting’s country tune “if this is goodbye” which is based on the 2nd subject and hearing a human voice sing it really belies how beautiful and lyrical the melody is.
I highly appreciate you and these videos are fantastic. What is it that I get from them and what would I encourage you to focus on? 1. Don't worry too much about methodical structure from video to video. 2. Major on two things... Your deep insight into incredible music and your ability to play it really well on the piano. 3. Go with how you feel and what you want to talk about on any particular day / week. 4. Explain to us some of the deeper reasons why we love classical music so much, but hadn't fully understood why. 5. Surprise us with less well known music that would be worth getting to know. Overall... Find a way to maintain momentum over the long term.... Pace yourself! So many channels peter out and I really don't want this one to suffer that fate!!! Happy new year!!!
Bravo, Professor. I just recently discovered your channel. Please consider expanding our knowledge of Rachmanioff's work in part II of this lecture. Thank you!
Would definitely love to hear more. I would also be interested to hear your analysis of some of the Rachmaninov Preludes particularly the haunting B minor and the electrifying B flat major (which by the looks of it, seems formidably difficult to play).
First time in awhile that i sat down and watched a 30+ minute UA-cam video, this is an amazing piece that unfortunately seems to get looked over by some people as too popular or cheesy romanticism, when theres so much fantasic writing throughout.
Thank you for mentioning Rachmaninov and counterpoint. As you probably know, he was a student of Taneiev, who wrote the formidable "Convertible Counterpoint in the Strict Style" ('much valued by me in my youth'----Stravinsky), and an (unfinished) work on canon. It is also interesting that at 9:13 Rachmaninov is seen sitting in a chair with a portrait of Tchaikovsky behind him. It was Tchaikovsky to whom he dedicated his brilliant Fantasie Tableaux (Suite 1 Op. 5) for two pianos at the grand old age of twenty! Unfortunately, Tchaikovsky died five weeks before its first performance. Tchaikovely, at least, recognised that Rachmaninov was going places. This marvellous work has all the characteristics of Rachmaninov's harmony and imagination. (Has anyone ever represented the swinging of great bells better than he in the last movement?) Can't praise it highly enough. (Thanks also for your enlightening comments and hard work.)
Fab comment! Thank you. Yes Taneyev was a fascinating figure and I know his convertible counterpoint very well because one of my students is working through it in detail (and doing all the exercises!) The rigorous training that young Russian composers had in this period is really remarkable and it explains the explosion of talent that occurred in Russia in the early years of the 20th century. Rachmaninov later said a beautiful thing about Tchaikovsky: "Tchaikovsky was already renowned then, he was recognized all over the world and revered by everyone, but fame had not spoilt him. Of all the people and artists whom I have had occasion to meet, Tchaikovsky was the most enchanting. His delicacy of spirit was unique. He was modest like all truly great men and simple as only very few are. Of all those I have known, only Chekhov was like him". I agree with you that the Fantasie Tableaux is an early masterpiece in which many of the key components of Rachmaninov's genius are already in place. I'm particularly fond of the wonderful 'Tears' movement with its radical harmonies, and of course the wonderful bells in the finale.
@@themusicprofessor Thank you for your interesting comment. It is many years since I studied Convertible Counterpoint, but I believe there are several misprints, (given the technical nature of the subject matter, this is not surprising), which your student might have found by him/ her self. I have the version translated by Ackley Brower and published by Boston Bruce Humphries. If I may, on page 42 section 51, the second number from the top of column six (-1) should be "less than" < not more than, because it is an inverse shift. The same for -2 in column 5, which should also be "less than"
Great video Professor! I remember he has a piece using basically the same material but was written for two pianos, probably a suite or something, it'd nice if you could talk a little about the how the two pieces interconnect!
The magnificent Suite for 2 pianos no. 2 - written around the same time. Not the same material though: ua-cam.com/video/5g3sD7tOKb4/v-deo.htmlsi=Uq6bCrkQeOdcITSv
Yes, Mussorgsky had a powerful influence on R. That whole bell thing - really a continuous obsession through R's work, partly derives from the extraordinary chords in the great coronation scene in Boris Godunov: ua-cam.com/video/2RGzcPfLcks/v-deo.htmlsi=ilb9H2DgY39OSDeV
Thank you, thank you, thank you! As a kid I inherited a large album of 20 or so LPs of anonymous performances of “Great Music” with extensive printed commentary. I knew the Dr D story in outline but never heard the details you shared about it, or Tolstoy, or the reviewer. What good advice to be kind.
Regarding Rachmaninov's popularity, I remember watching a US war film (possibly made while R was still alive) where an American airman, chatting up a female member of the military, asks her what kind of music she liked; she replied 'Rachmaninov', he responded 'Rocky who?'.
Tiny correction to the caption for the photo of Zverev and his students: Scriabin is the one sitting besides Zverev on the left (second from the left).
I would put the opening of Beethoven's 4th up there as well. And it's another quiet opening, starting with the piano playing...well, piano, and then the orchestra enters in pianissimo. Edit: And now I see that you mentioned the 4th shortly after I paused. lol. Oh well, OOPS.
I’d love to hear more analysis. I have a feeling you don’t need all that much coaxing for this one. Wanted to mention an absolutely brilliant idea Clint Eastwood did with his film The Hereafter. He uses the slow movement with a part missing from the mix. It represents the loss of the boys twin brother. I have never seen any analysis about Eastwood doing this. The fact that the music is still beautiful without the counter melody is a tribute to Rachmaninoff. And a clever and inspired idea Eastwood had.
Thank you! Funnily enough, in an early (and rather primitive) video on this channel I did sightread a tiny bit of Opus Clavicembalisticum! (ua-cam.com/video/-LmsCtQ-e-U/v-deo.htmlsi=t_Q0yUazPFFCs0Nz&t=484 around 8 minutes in)
I love you for doing this! I became a fan of Rachmaninoff as a piano student in my mid- to late teens and yes, the prevalent attitude was "great pianist (therefore his pieces are great to play), but mediocre composer". But since I was already beginning to gravitate towards composition back then, it didn't take me long to appreciate the astounding intricacies even in those very few works of his I've been assigned to play - the rich counterpoint, the harmonies, truly symphonic scale of composition on a single instrument. I'll never forget the thrill of discovering one day, after a month of learning one of the preludes, that there is an actual *third* melody hidden among the figuration ^^ Still, I took the word of my teachers and accepted that Rachmaninoff's catalogue of works contained nothing of note apart from his piano pieces. I mean, our music history teacher confidently claimed he didn't write any major symphonic works. It was only during my time at university that I was introduced to his symphonies (starting with the 2nd) and in my personal canon he is absolute symphonic royalty, all the way up there with Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky and Mahler. I also can't fathom how any decently educated musician could classify his music as derivative or shallow. Also, to be honest, I'd say each one of his concertos (let's include the Paganini Rhapsody in there) can be counted as *a major symphonic work* as well, given how important a role the orchestra plays in them - as far as it could possibly be from a mere accompaniment.
All true. Yes, all his symphonic works are absolutely marvellous - and of course his final work: the Symphonic Dances are utterly fab too. I also think that the greatest variation sets of the 20th century are probably by him: Paganini of course and (a special favourite of mine) the wonderful Corelli Variations: ua-cam.com/video/oILLr5Lg9OI/v-deo.html
@@themusicprofessor Absolutely! There's something very endearing about his treatment of themes from older masters and how he applies his style to them. Maybe not the same caliber, but still the same category is his cadenza to Liszt's 2nd Hungarian Rhapsody what a blast: ua-cam.com/video/aKRhIUMZohw/v-deo.html
I wholeheartedly concur with all your sighs and gasps, i also can't help it when playing through and studying this piece. Makes it a lot more difficult to practice effectively and in tempo ;) the only chord that feels "off" to me in this whole concerto is at 30:15, the D against the Db, but it's so perfectly and wonderfully wrong in just the right way and placing somehow...
was left longing for more, would be great to see more from this or other concertos. Don't worry, you're sight-reading fine :) im also actually a pretty big fan of his 1st concerto, the final movement has such funky rhythms that I still haven't quite figured out
The emotional effect of Rachmaninoff's two best known concertos - 2 and 3 - is literally indescribable. They somehow reach into the depths of human experience and rip your heart out. 'Emotional " is not a bad word ... is it?
Agreed. It's ridiculous that music that speaks so deeply and effortlessly to your soul is seen as a bad thing. Rachmaninoff figured out the key to encompassing the human experience within music.
Great video as always! I totally agree @ 11:25 “All Beethoven is an idiot”, pure rubbish! Rachmaninov is another absolute genius and I guess another example of great music coming through suffering! Beethoven once said “obtain joy through suffering”. Happy new year ❤
I'd argue it's great music *despite* the suffering, not through it. And this whole romanticizing of suffering for the art is really harmful to the musical profession as a whole.
Just to clarify: I was reading from the full score but for ease of explanation, the 2-piano score is sometimes used in the video. At 29:09, I say that the cellos are playing in tenor clef. In fact the violas are playing and it is an alto clef. Apologies for any confusion.
Yes, viola was the instrument Dr. Dahl played and Rachmaninov deliberately used it in the orchestration. We can hear it all the time in the melodies.
@@HuniHu-x2q That's a lovely detail!
The criticism Rachmaninov endured in his early years brings to mind an anecdote. When touring North America, Rachmaninov and his wife dined at the Royal York, Toronto's top hotel. The string ensemble were aware of him and played to their utmost. After the meal, he rose and escorted his wife from the dining room. The ensemble was crestfallen - he had not so much as looked their way. Then Rachmaninov re-entered the dining room, walked to the front, and bowed deeply to the ensemble.
I could watch another 2 hours of you doing this, well done!
Thank you!
"I'm gonna attempt to sight read" and then proceed to play it smoothly while singing and talking, and with brakes for gesticulating 😅 ❤ that was wonderful and highly enjoyable like all your content. 👏
A tour de force indeed. Stunning in its own way.
What a great channel you run!
Thank you so much. I'm a big fan of yours!
During more than a year, this channel has been presented to me by the Holy Algorithm. And at some point, I pressed the subscribe button.
Of the more recent episodes, I recall Chopin, Beethoven and Joplin
And they have been stunningly good.
I think the two of you have found your right place.
Having enjoyed several good teachers, in music theory, piano and violin, I marvel at this composition
professor.
UA-cam offers a liberty no-one gets at the conservatory. Use this opportunity!
Don't worry about trying to be complete! That's a futile endeavor anyway. Listen to your heart and talk about what feels the most urgent. Your inner voice is the key to spirited lectures.
Thank you!
What an absolute TREAT this was! SO appreciate you communicating this especially to the non-musical amongst us! Wonderful 🎉
No, don't stop. You're right at the best part! Please, more!
Thank you so much for this. I could easily watch you go through the entire concerto and beyond! Love your channel!
So I am 16 years old and I absolutely love this concerto, what happened is I just began to read every single note of it. I can now play the first and the second movement as I am writing this right now. Some of you might think that I am just a little kid just happened to like this piece as a hobby wich you might think I gave up on it, but I quickly realized how difficult this piece truly is however I didn’t gave up on it. I truly spend all day figuring out all the different melodies, themes and harmonies. Now this piece isn’t a piece you could just sit down and just start playing, all though I am impressed you actually did it very quickly. A few of my teachers told me that this is wrong and “I still have to go a long way”, instead I should focus on other pieces like chopin etudes for example. I don’t really know why he is saying that and crush all my dreams with it. I am self taught and my local piano teachers (i am sorry) can’t really teach me all that. I know my theory and I absolutely love this concerto, and I thought maybe at the university I can get help and learn more. I am hoping that you can give me some at advice. As always thank you so much, I really enjoyed this video, I wish you a great day today.
You're on a rewarding path - follow your heart.
Please continue with this. This piece has special meaning for me. My mother was a professional pianist. Growing up, I often heard her playing this concerto. She related to Rachmaninoff on a personal level, as there was much sorrow in her life; his music was often a comfort to her. She passed away in 2020. It's a wonderful masterwork.
MORE!!! this is one of my favorite works, and hearing you play over and explaining it is just bliss. Would love more on this work!
Really enjoyed this. Happy to have the measures highlighted following along.
More please
Please continue this analysis with a follow up video, I’m dying to hear you talk about this movement’s climax and return of the main theme. Thanks for the great video 😄
Great video. Rachmaninov is a composer whose greatness I’ve grown to recognise and respect greatly, but whose aesthetic I’ve not really warmed to. It’s important, as musicians, to be able to recognise that one can not be fond of a composer’s out, and also admire its greatness, when it’s real. There really shouldn’t be cognitive dissonance with that. That a piece doesn’t particularly resonate with us, does NOT mean it’s crap!
Also I’d argue that the harmonies work so well BECAUSE the counterpoint is so carefully thought through
Great comment. Rachmaninoff's technical facility and harmonic fluency is undoubtably great but personally i find his musical temperament and sensibilities don't really resonate with me
Brilliant - this was fascinating and would love to see more videos taking us through the rest of Rach 2.
I really feel that Rachmaninoff was a genius at melody writing. His melodies are beautifully expressive, and so perfectly balanced. The emotional impact of his music is very, very strong.
Thanks for this excellent video! Yes, please, go ahead with some more videos about this extraordinary piece of music! I love your explanations and analysis.
When I studied for my music degree at Manchester Uni in the 80’s, the whole 3 year course skipped from Brahms to early Schoenberg as though the late romantic period didn’t exist or maybe should just be ignored in polite academic circles. Thanks for shining your light on this.
That kind of thing still goes on. A former student of mine told me that he asked a question about Rachmaninov during a recent history lecture and received a very disdainful response from the professor.
Yeah interesting how he's fallen into an automatic disregard box, he also it seems kind of felt it in his time, mentioning that he felt like a dinosaur, which I can kind of understand: composing in a time of stravinsky, ravel and schoenberg and others..
Did they bother to discuss the work of Reger, Scriabin, or Richard Strauss?
But actually I think he's a much more modernist figure than people think. At the time, many of his his pieces were thought to be dissonant and complicated. In many ways he's roughly equivalent to Ravel (who was junior by only 2 years)
When I was a music major in the 1970s at a prestigious U.S. public university with some very famous musicologists on the faculty, the textbook we used for the sophomore-year music history survey course didn't mention Rachmaninoff at all (I still have the book).
Great analysis. The more I listen to (and read) Rachmaninov, the more I hear a real sense of structure and motivic unity behind the achingly beautiful melodies. A much underestimated composer. I would welcome your further exploration of this work.
I think the apparent spontaneity of these videos, plus the wide range of subjects is a feature, not a bug. I'm happy to be able to learn something about all sorts of music and composers that I either don't know anything about or know only very little about. So I personally like this current format ☺
Happy 2025!
There was a moment at 18:17 when you began to play the inner parts of the opening chords that made me realize it almost mimics the rising and falling of the great secondary theme (from the first movement), or maybe even hinting to the greater 'rising theme' that subtly permeates the entire concerto.
The second movement's introduction uses that 'rising theme' too, as does the end (still of the second movement) make a little reference to it.
But I went and gave the whole thing another listen only to really notice for the first time some of the similarities between the first and third movements. They begin as soon as the piano enters (especially in Rachmaninoff's own recording, he really emphasizes the low note accents like in the accompaniment during the first movements exposition, you even talk about that at 21:21).
But I was most surprised to see that those iconic opening chords (still in F minor even) reappear! But now spread across the orchestra and almost completely unrecognizable just before the main theme of the third movement enters.
It would be nice to hear a full analysis (eventually maybe aha) as the whole concerto is spectacular, especially the second movement.
Welcome back and Happy New Year!
Rach 2: A Plagal Palindrome. What a curious and wonderful way of approaching and appreciating this piece.
It's also not surprising that he was derided by his contemporaries. Human can be very cruel to that which they don't understand.
The Isle of the Dead is one of my favorite of his works. I can stare at the painting while listening to it and be transported. For me, he is a sublime composer.
Wonderful discussion. I Love to hear you continue this subject.
I've just recorded part 2 so we will release it fairly soon...
Delightfully enjoyable ! I have listened and enjoyed this piece for decades, I noted many things you mentioned but being only an amateur student, it's enjoyable and enlightening to see these things properly pointed out and with historical context ! I felt this as an enjoyable university class ! I also appreciate the flow and natural fluency of the class ! Thank you !
Please continue with this!
Great video professor. Glad to see some love for Rachmaninov’s second. My teachers always went on about his third which is also great but the second is his true magnum opus in my humble opinion.
Rachmaninov’s second indeed has the most amount of melodic content, but rach 3 is the most architecturally imposing and structurally profound
Outstanding analysis. Rack 2 is one of my all time favourites along with various Bach. Thanks so much. I make Dubstep and Drill music in a digital audio workstation for a Moroccan and London rapper but I still love my classical roots. Thanks so much. )
You could easily gush for another hour about the Rach 2 and keep my full attention. That is a great piece. I ignore people who don't like it just because it's played so much. It doesn't get old even after 100 years.
No, that’s a remarkable thing about that concerto - almost all music becomes tedious if one has listened to it too much, say hundreds of times. Rach 2 is one of the few pieces I never tire of.
my dear mother introduced me to this piece in my teens, and I struggled through parts of it, picking those I wanted to understand more about how he did it. Fifty years on and it's still got a magical hold over me. Thanks for this, I enjoyed the bio background too and would be very interested in a continuation via series.
Wonderful affirming video. I used to feel guilty about loving this piece! Yes, more please.
I've watched this twice, and despite knowing these concertos pretty deeply, I really enjoyed your enthusiasm for the piece, and you pointed out a couple of things I haven't really noticed before!
It would be great if you're inclined to make more on this, and his other concertos - there seems to be a distinct lack of detailed videos about his works on UA-cam, and you make it really engaging and accessible. I would gladly pay for it 🙏
Yes. It helps especially when you know someone who dislikes it. Anna Federova does an amazing job.
@@RickMalteseERPif someone dislikes it….I’m not sure we’d have much to talk about, in general
When I deal with such issues I simply remind myself that we are all children at heart and we grow at different rates. Then it’s easier to keep a relationship with that person.
it's a solid format, don't you worry
More analysis please. The second movement is sooo beautiful. Thanks for your work.
Incredible analysis of the concerto and exuberance for it. This is one of my favourite piano concertos. Rachmaninoff has so many beautifully crafted compositions and shows how marvellous he was as a composer and musician.
It's great that you (and those of a similar affinity) can at last openly express this enthusiasm for an unfashionably late romantic. When I was studying, back in the 80's, there were a few of us who would listen to Rachmaninoff almost as an anti-contemporary pose but there's so much to his music as you have wonderfully pointed out in this video.
Another installment would be most welcome.
Great pick and elaboration, Matthew. I see Rachmaninov as the Beethoven of his own culture.
Wonderful. Helps me hear the piece as if for the first time. Please carry on with it.
Rach rocks! Favorite piano concerto, good video.
Please continue with this piece!
I enjoyed your explanations, demonstrations and even the mistakes; I'm so used to hearing the polished end product that I don't appreciate the difficulty of the piece. Thank you. Are you going to do a further explanation of the rest of number 2? Rachmaninov is my favourite composer!
Yes - I'll do more on Rach 2
11:15 Tolstoy also claimed that Shakespeare was a bad playwright, which George Orwell wrote about in his essay Lear, Tolstoy, and the Fool.
Absolutely would enjoy hearing you break down the rest of the movement this way. Excellent work! Thank you!
The instruction to violins to play sul G is very important orchestration. Not only does it effectively remove the need to mark a very intended portamento, playing the entire opening theme on the lowest string gives a deep male vocal like resonance to the extended line and makes the transition to violas more integrated.
Study of Bach, in particular the Inventions, was a core part of Russian, and later Soviet, musical training. The composer not only knew that music well but could play it very well. There are plenty of passages in his work that can't really be played properly without having that specific keyboard facility.
It's also worth considering that his frequent use of Phrygian was at the time regarded as very daring and exotically evocative of his partially Central Asian background. The piece has become such a byword for lush Romanticism that we don't appreciate that.
And I'm sure you're aware that the little "DNA" figure introduced almost in disguise under the "tolling bells" as part of the opening cadence also appears at the Piu vivo (rehearsal mark 8). And reappears constantly throughout all the other movements - If you want to really go to town, you can find it almost everywhere in various transformations. Not much is arbitrarily chosen...
Also interesting to consider that the first movement was written last.
Wonderful video!
The 3rd is by far my favourite concerto to have ever been written, but the second is sure beautiful, and was pivotal in his revival.
I find the opening piano accompaniment oddly intuitive and comfortable to play, even at speed. It all falls so well under the fingers and flows so naturally. Rachmaninov was simultaneously a master of melody and complexity that never strays into inaccessibility for the pianist.
No - absolutely right. It's marvellously idiomatic writing.
I'll never forget the first time I've heard this concerto, and as well because I have never heard of Rachmaninoff in the first place, and I have never forgotten his name ever since.
My first visit to your site and thank you so very much for this. Amazing and very enlightening - thank you so much !
*
Rachmaninoff was 6’6” (2 metres) tall so that might explain his amazing hand stretches.
Thank you. Welcome to the channel!
Your best yet! Profound commentary about encouragement and confidence and the constant judgement surrounding musicians. Also a compelling case for the quality of the music. 👍🏼👍🏼
“Sounds so good” - absolutely! Your sharing the moving backstory, beautiful sight-reading performance - and your laughter reflecting on the critics sound so good too!! Happy New Year, Professor!
wow. thank you Sir. miami usa much love for your work.
Thank you!
Counterpoints in the works of Rachmaninov are everywhere. Symphony No.2 has quite a few breathtaking melodies which I just can't imagine a human mind can produce, but other than that each section is sort of like a chamber music piece on its own, and it's stunning how he managed to have those large structures interwoven without sounding annoying and cheap. Might have something to do with his deep study to Bach's work later in life
Keep climbing up the Rach!
Wonderful. Would love to explore more of this piece! Thanks!
Happy New Year, prof... So glad this content is here - warm, generous and enthusiastic, almost like you're be discovering stuff for the first time so there's a kid getting a present quality as well! Of course, it hardly needs to be said, but that effusive effortlessness is based on a truly authentic ear, experience and expertise - truly excellent!!
Have a great 2025!🎉
Thank you for this lovely comment!
Totally right about Rachmaninov versus his reputation. I struggled to get past that same barrage of misinformation. Eric Blum (
?) had a lot to answer for! I don’t there is any composer who wrote such fabulous romantic music!
you can't leave us hanging! of course do the whole thing! there's so much detail to cover and your insights are joy to hear because the music clearly brings you joy - it's infectious!
criticism from musicologists, or even from other famous and/or successful composers isn't necessarily fair criticism. all of them are subject to the same human weaknesses of jealousy, inflated ego and all the rest. the fact is, Rachmaninov has written much that is loved and respected and played widely. we're lucky to live in time of accessibility to not just music, but music criticism (positive and negative) and get to make up our own minds what we like or don't.
what I like about your analysis is that small details that I knew/absorbed through frequent listening are given a name and structure that I don't have the technical skills to do myself. selfish I know, but it's validating!
Fantastic. Please continue with part 2 of this video
Thank you for this truly insightful content, so beautifully and enthusiastically presented. What a treat! I'm a mere music lover with some musical education and Rachmaninoff has always been very close to my heart. I was shocked to hear these arrogant and disrespectful comments about the great composer by his contemporaries. In my humble opinion it maybe is Rachmaninoff's enormous talent and facility both as a pianist and composer which makes the music heartbreakingly beautiful and effortlessly listenable despite the complexity and sophistication of its elements, stretched to the limits of what the instrument can achieve. Still probably unsurpassed, especially the 3rd concerto. Probably among the most talented of all great composers, like Chopin and Mozart. This is something to be admired not condemned. I enjoyed the latest Pletnev performances for their lack of showmanship and focus on musical quality of the concertos. Interesting tempos. What do you think?Thank you again.
If you remove the F note from the beginning melody in the piano, you get Ab-G-C as in the incipit and throughout the famous C# minor prelude (of course one half-tone higher). Great video!
Yes - I almost discussed the connection between the 2 pieces because of course the end of the prelude is very like the beginning of the concerto. I may talk about this in Part 2!
More Rach 2? Yes please. I came across this piece only recently and was kind of shocked; why had I not heard this before? Sure, everyone knows "Full Moon and Empty Arms" is based on one of the themes, but I didn't know the whole piece is filled with these wonderful romantic melodies traded between the piano and different sections of the orchestra. So complex and layered, and yet also accessible. No wonder it's used in so many movies. (The Wikipedia article has a list in the "Modern reception and legacy" section.) I've now listened to the piece many times, and yes, it's definitely meant for virtuoso performers, so I'm impressed that you were able to sight read as much of it as you did.
Thank you.
Thanks, as always for your expertise & insight. Fascinating to hear about Rachmaninov’s early years and his insecurities…
I very nearly burst into tears when you showed the clip from Brief Encounter
More please!! Not since Jorge Bolet's masterclass on this concerto (on BBC 2 TV in 1985) has so much insight and entertainment been crammed into 35 minutes...and you're barely through the 1st movement! So please, more, lots more.
I’ve seen that
My all-time favorite concerto by a nose over the equally brilliant Brahms Violin Concerto. Had the privilege to play 3d horn on the Rach 2 PC a couple years back. What an experience.
It's a great horn part! Brahms's violin concerto is very special too, yes.
Your sight reading is 👌
Thank you!
Also worth listening to is Margaret Whiting’s country tune “if this is goodbye” which is based on the 2nd subject and hearing a human voice sing it really belies how beautiful and lyrical the melody is.
I’m glad you mentioned Beethoven 4 as I had always seen a link and it’s great to have my humble idea verified by an expert 👍🏻
I highly appreciate you and these videos are fantastic. What is it that I get from them and what would I encourage you to focus on? 1. Don't worry too much about methodical structure from video to video. 2. Major on two things... Your deep insight into incredible music and your ability to play it really well on the piano. 3. Go with how you feel and what you want to talk about on any particular day / week. 4. Explain to us some of the deeper reasons why we love classical music so much, but hadn't fully understood why. 5. Surprise us with less well known music that would be worth getting to know. Overall... Find a way to maintain momentum over the long term.... Pace yourself! So many channels peter out and I really don't want this one to suffer that fate!!! Happy new year!!!
Thank you for the suggestions! Happy New Year!
It is indeed a marvel!
Bravo, Professor. I just recently discovered your channel. Please consider expanding our knowledge of Rachmanioff's work in part II of this lecture. Thank you!
Best new year gift !
Would definitely love to hear more. I would also be interested to hear your analysis of some of the Rachmaninov Preludes particularly the haunting B minor and the electrifying B flat major (which by the looks of it, seems formidably difficult to play).
First time in awhile that i sat down and watched a 30+ minute UA-cam video, this is an amazing piece that unfortunately seems to get looked over by some people as too popular or cheesy romanticism, when theres so much fantasic writing throughout.
Thank you for mentioning Rachmaninov and counterpoint. As you probably know, he was a student of Taneiev, who wrote the formidable "Convertible Counterpoint in the Strict Style" ('much valued by me in my youth'----Stravinsky), and an (unfinished) work on canon. It is also interesting that at 9:13 Rachmaninov is seen sitting in a chair with a portrait of Tchaikovsky behind him. It was Tchaikovsky to whom he dedicated his brilliant Fantasie Tableaux (Suite 1 Op. 5) for two pianos at the grand old age of twenty! Unfortunately, Tchaikovsky died five weeks before its first performance. Tchaikovely, at least, recognised that Rachmaninov was going places. This marvellous work has all the characteristics of Rachmaninov's harmony and imagination. (Has anyone ever represented the swinging of great bells better than he in the last movement?) Can't praise it highly enough. (Thanks also for your enlightening comments and hard work.)
Fab comment! Thank you. Yes Taneyev was a fascinating figure and I know his convertible counterpoint very well because one of my students is working through it in detail (and doing all the exercises!) The rigorous training that young Russian composers had in this period is really remarkable and it explains the explosion of talent that occurred in Russia in the early years of the 20th century. Rachmaninov later said a beautiful thing about Tchaikovsky: "Tchaikovsky was already renowned then, he was recognized all over the world and revered by everyone, but fame had not spoilt him. Of all the people and artists whom I have had occasion to meet, Tchaikovsky was the most enchanting. His delicacy of spirit was unique. He was modest like all truly great men and simple as only very few are. Of all those I have known, only Chekhov was like him". I agree with you that the Fantasie Tableaux is an early masterpiece in which many of the key components of Rachmaninov's genius are already in place. I'm particularly fond of the wonderful 'Tears' movement with its radical harmonies, and of course the wonderful bells in the finale.
@@themusicprofessor Thank you for your interesting comment. It is many years since I studied Convertible Counterpoint, but I believe there are several misprints, (given the technical nature of the subject matter, this is not surprising), which your student might have found by him/ her self. I have the version translated by Ackley Brower and published by Boston Bruce Humphries.
If I may, on page 42 section 51, the second number from the top of column six (-1) should be "less than" < not more than, because it is an inverse shift. The same for -2 in column 5, which should also be "less than"
Great video Professor! I remember he has a piece using basically the same material but was written for two pianos, probably a suite or something, it'd nice if you could talk a little about the how the two pieces interconnect!
The magnificent Suite for 2 pianos no. 2 - written around the same time. Not the same material though: ua-cam.com/video/5g3sD7tOKb4/v-deo.htmlsi=Uq6bCrkQeOdcITSv
The ending of the 2nd movement is one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard.
love this all!
Would love to see more :)
Loved it.
Another influence of this concerto was on Richard Addinsell’s Warsaw Concerto, another beautiful piano and orchestra work.
Lovely dog!
I’ve noticed the Rachmaninov preludes and etudes-tableaux have tons of brilliant Bach-like counterpoint
Yes!
Can't wait for the Ravel Concertos!
The opening chords in Rach 2 recall the chords leading up to the final section of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.
Yes, Mussorgsky had a powerful influence on R. That whole bell thing - really a continuous obsession through R's work, partly derives from the extraordinary chords in the great coronation scene in Boris Godunov: ua-cam.com/video/2RGzcPfLcks/v-deo.htmlsi=ilb9H2DgY39OSDeV
Thank you, thank you, thank you! As a kid I inherited a large album of 20 or so LPs of anonymous performances of “Great Music” with extensive printed commentary. I knew the Dr D story in outline but never heard the details you shared about it, or Tolstoy, or the reviewer. What good advice to be kind.
More please. Great video, great piece of music
Regarding Rachmaninov's popularity, I remember watching a US war film (possibly made while R was still alive) where an American airman, chatting up a female member of the military, asks her what kind of music she liked; she replied 'Rachmaninov', he responded 'Rocky who?'.
Tiny correction to the caption for the photo of Zverev and his students: Scriabin is the one sitting besides Zverev on the left (second from the left).
Apologies. Of course you're right.
I would put the opening of Beethoven's 4th up there as well. And it's another quiet opening, starting with the piano playing...well, piano, and then the orchestra enters in pianissimo.
Edit: And now I see that you mentioned the 4th shortly after I paused. lol. Oh well, OOPS.
I’d love to hear more analysis. I have a feeling you don’t need all that much coaxing for this one. Wanted to mention an absolutely brilliant idea Clint Eastwood did with his film The Hereafter. He uses the slow movement with a part missing from the mix. It represents the loss of the boys twin brother. I have never seen any analysis about Eastwood doing this. The fact that the music is still beautiful without the counter melody is a tribute to Rachmaninoff. And a clever and inspired idea Eastwood had.
Interesting. Actually I haven't seen The Hereafter.
@@themusicprofessor Matter of waiting
I think you must make a video about the 2nd movement!
Quite Fantasie Impromtu like at places. Especially those arpeggios at the first cadence.
Can we just say Professor's students are fabulously lucky? Happy New Year, Prof. Waiting for your next video: sight-reading _Opus clavicembalisticum._
Thank you! Funnily enough, in an early (and rather primitive) video on this channel I did sightread a tiny bit of Opus Clavicembalisticum! (ua-cam.com/video/-LmsCtQ-e-U/v-deo.htmlsi=t_Q0yUazPFFCs0Nz&t=484 around 8 minutes in)
@@themusicprofessor Ha. Well done! I wish I knew the 'secret' to sight-reading.
I love you for doing this!
I became a fan of Rachmaninoff as a piano student in my mid- to late teens and yes, the prevalent attitude was "great pianist (therefore his pieces are great to play), but mediocre composer". But since I was already beginning to gravitate towards composition back then, it didn't take me long to appreciate the astounding intricacies even in those very few works of his I've been assigned to play - the rich counterpoint, the harmonies, truly symphonic scale of composition on a single instrument. I'll never forget the thrill of discovering one day, after a month of learning one of the preludes, that there is an actual *third* melody hidden among the figuration ^^
Still, I took the word of my teachers and accepted that Rachmaninoff's catalogue of works contained nothing of note apart from his piano pieces. I mean, our music history teacher confidently claimed he didn't write any major symphonic works.
It was only during my time at university that I was introduced to his symphonies (starting with the 2nd) and in my personal canon he is absolute symphonic royalty, all the way up there with Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky and Mahler. I also can't fathom how any decently educated musician could classify his music as derivative or shallow.
Also, to be honest, I'd say each one of his concertos (let's include the Paganini Rhapsody in there) can be counted as *a major symphonic work* as well, given how important a role the orchestra plays in them - as far as it could possibly be from a mere accompaniment.
All true. Yes, all his symphonic works are absolutely marvellous - and of course his final work: the Symphonic Dances are utterly fab too. I also think that the greatest variation sets of the 20th century are probably by him: Paganini of course and (a special favourite of mine) the wonderful Corelli Variations: ua-cam.com/video/oILLr5Lg9OI/v-deo.html
@@themusicprofessor Absolutely! There's something very endearing about his treatment of themes from older masters and how he applies his style to them.
Maybe not the same caliber, but still the same category is his cadenza to Liszt's 2nd Hungarian Rhapsody what a blast:
ua-cam.com/video/aKRhIUMZohw/v-deo.html
I wholeheartedly concur with all your sighs and gasps, i also can't help it when playing through and studying this piece. Makes it a lot more difficult to practice effectively and in tempo ;) the only chord that feels "off" to me in this whole concerto is at 30:15, the D against the Db, but it's so perfectly and wonderfully wrong in just the right way and placing somehow...
was left longing for more, would be great to see more from this or other concertos. Don't worry, you're sight-reading fine :) im also actually a pretty big fan of his 1st concerto, the final movement has such funky rhythms that I still haven't quite figured out
It's a marvellous example of a false relation (very like lots of similar polyphonic clashes in Renaissance music)
The emotional effect of Rachmaninoff's two best known concertos - 2 and 3 - is literally indescribable. They somehow reach into the depths of human experience and rip your heart out. 'Emotional " is not a bad word ... is it?
Agreed. It's ridiculous that music that speaks so deeply and effortlessly to your soul is seen as a bad thing. Rachmaninoff figured out the key to encompassing the human experience within music.
Funny how you say the concerto is difficult but effortlessly sight read it :)
Another one of my favorite restatements of the main motif is in the Adagio in the leadup to the climax.
Great video as always! I totally agree @ 11:25 “All Beethoven is an idiot”, pure rubbish! Rachmaninov is another absolute genius and I guess another example of great music coming through suffering! Beethoven once said “obtain joy through suffering”. Happy new year ❤
I'd argue it's great music *despite* the suffering, not through it. And this whole romanticizing of suffering for the art is really harmful to the musical profession as a whole.
@@pjkorabThere’s suffering that’s detrimental to creation, and there’s suffering that is an engine for it