The piece is a set of 24 variations on the twenty-fourth and last of Niccolò Paganini’s Caprices for solo violin, which has inspired works by several composers.

• Introduction: Allegro vivace – Variation I (Precedente)
• Tema: L’istesso tempo
• Variation II: L’istesso tempo
• Variation III: L’istesso tempo
• Variation IV: Più vivo
• Variation V: Tempo precedente
• Variation VI: L’istesso tempo
• Variation VII: Meno mosso, a tempo moderato
• Variation VIII: Tempo I
• Variation IX: L’istesso tempo
• Variation X: L’istesso tempo
• Variation XI: Moderato
• Variation XII: Tempo di minuetto
• Variation XIII: Allegro
• Variation XIV: L’istesso tempo
• Variation XV: Più vivo scherzando
• Variation XVI: Allegretto
• Variation XVII: Allegretto
• Variation XVIII: Andante cantabile
• Variation XIX: A tempo vivace
• Variation XX: Un poco più vivo
• Variation XXI: Un poco più vivo
• Variation XXII: Un poco più vivo (Alla breve)
• Variation XXIII: L’istesso tempo
• Variation XXIV: A tempo un poco meno mosso

Although Rachmaninoff’s work is performed in one stretch without breaks, it can be divided into three sections, corresponding to the three movements of a concerto: up to variation 11 corresponds to the first movement, variations 12 to 18 are the equivalent of a slow movement, and the remaining variations make a finale.

After a brief introduction, the first variation is played before the theme. Paganini’s theme is stated on strings with the piano picking out salient notes, after the first variation. Rachmaninoff likely got the idea of having a variation before the theme from the finale of Beethoven’s Eroica symphony. Variations II to VI recombine elements of the theme. The pauses and rhetorical flourishes for the piano in variation VII herald a change of tempo and tone. The piano next gravely intones the Dies Irae, the “day of wrath” plainchant from the medieval Mass of the Dead, while the orchestra accompanies with a slower version of the opening motif of the Paganini theme. The piece is one of several by Rachmaninoff to quote the Dies Irae plainchant melody.

The slow eighteenth variation is by far the most well-known, and it is often included on classical music compilations without the rest of the work. It is based on an inversion of the melody of Paganini’s theme. In other words, the A minor Paganini theme is played “upside down” in D flat major. Rachmaninoff himself recognized the appeal of this variation, saying “This one, is for my agent.”

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Mikhail Pletnev: piano

Claudio Abbado: conductor

Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

Arthur Rubinstein: piano

Alfred Wallenstein: conductor

part 1/2

part 2/2

Ayako Uehara: piano

part 1/3

part 2/3

part 3/3

Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini Op. 43 in A minor sheet music

Compared to its predecessors, the Fourth contains sharper thematic profiles along with a refinement of textures in keyboard and orchestra. These qualities do not lead to greater simplicity but to a different sort of complexity. It was also a continuation of Rachmaninoff’s long-range creative growth. The Third and the recomposed First Concertos were less heavily orchestrated than the Second. In keeping with its general character, the Fourth is lighter still yet more oblique.

The concerto is written in three movements:

1. Allegro vivace (G minor)
2. Largo (C major)
3. Allegro vivace (G major)

Rachmaninoff had already been making a more extensive use of short thematic motifs and strong rhythmic patterns in his Op. 32 Preludes in place of what was called the “unmentionable restlessness” that made his work, especially the concertos, a distressing experience for some musicians. This refinement of musical language, especially in orchestration, went back at least to The Bells and a more astringent tone was already noticeable in songs like “The Raising of Lazarus”, Op. 34 No. 6.

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Vladmir Ashkenazy: piano

Andre Previn: conductor

London Symphony Orchestra

part 1/3 (I)

part 2/3 (II)

part 3/3 (III)

Nikolai Lugansky: piano

Ivan Shpiller: conductor

State Academy Symphony Orchestra of Russia

part 1/3 (I)

part 2/3 (II)

part 3/3 (III)

Piano Concerto Op. 40 No.4 in G minor sheet music

Following the form of a standard concerto, the piece is in three movements:

1. Allegro ma non troppo (D minor)

The first movement revolves around a diatonic melody that soon develops into complex pianistic figuration. The second theme opens with quiet exchanges between the orchestra and the piano before fully diving into a slower theme in a major key. The first part of the first theme is restated before the movement is pulled into a loud development section which opens with toccata like quivers in the piano and reaches a loud chordal section. The whole development exhibits features similar to a canon, such as an eighth note passage in the piano in which the left hand and the right hand play overlapping figures. The movement reaches a number of ferocious climaxes, especially in the cadenza. The first theme in its full form reappears just before the coda. Rachmaninoff wrote two versions of this cadenza: the dramatic and powerful original, commonly notated as the ossia, and a second one with a lighter, toccata-like style. In his recording of the concerto, the composer used the second cadenza. The first cadenza leads into a quiet solo section including the flute, clarinet and horn accompanied by delicate arpeggios in the piano. The piano then plays the less violent second cadenza, leading to the restating of the first theme in its entirety and closing with a tutti, silent, rippling coda.

2. Intermezzo: Adagio (F sharp minor/D flat major)

The second movement is opened by the orchestra and it consists of a number of variations around a single lush, heavily romantic melody following one another without a rigid scheme. The melody soon transitions to a tonic major which is the second theme. After the first theme development and recapitulation of the second theme, the main melody from the first movement reappears, before the movement is “closed” by the orchestra in a manner similar to the introduction. Then the piano gets the last word in with a short “cadenza-esque” passage which transitions into the last movement without pause. Many melodic thoughts of this movement allude to Rachmaninoff’s second piano concerto, third movement, noticeably the Russian-like, E-flat major melody.

3. Finale: Alla breve (D minor → D major)

The third movement is quick and vigorous and contains variations on many of the themes that are used in the first movement, which unites the whole concerto cyclically. However, after the first and second themes it diverges from the regular sonata-allegro form. There is no conventional development; that segment is replaced by a lengthy digression using the major key of the third movement’s first theme, which then leads to the two themes from the first movement. After the digression, the movement recapitulation returns to the original themes, building up to a toccata climax somewhat similar but lighter than the first movement ossia cadenza. The last movement is concluded with a triumphant and passionate second theme melody in D major. The piece ends with the same four-note rhythm – claimed by some to be the composer’s musical signature[citation needed] – as the composer’s second concerto.

The third movement follows the second without pause.

Rachmaninoff authorized several cuts in the score, to be made at the performer’s discretion. These cuts, particularly in the second and third movements, were commonly taken in performance and recordings during the initial decades following the Concerto’s publication. More recently, it has become commonplace to perform the concerto without cuts. A typical performance of the complete concerto lasts about forty minutes.

Written in the peaceful setting of his family’s country estate, Ivanovka, Rachmaninoff completed the concerto on September 23, 1909. Contemporary with this work are his First Piano Sonata and his tone poem The Isle of the Dead.

The concerto is respected, even feared,[citation needed] by most pianists. Józef Hofmann, the pianist to whom the work is dedicated, never publicly performed it, saying that it “wasn’t for” him. And Gary Graffman lamented he had not learned this concerto as a student, when he was “still too young to know fear”.

Due to time constraints, Rachmaninoff could not practice the piece while in Russia. Instead, he practiced it on a silent keyboard that he took with him on the ship to the US.

The concerto was first performed on November 28, 1909 by Rachmaninoff himself with the now-defunct New York Symphony Society with Walter Damrosch conducting, at the New Theater (later rechristened the Century Theater). It received a second performance under Gustav Mahler several weeks later, an ‘experience Rachmaninoff treasured’. The manuscript was first published in 1910 by Gutheil. The first performance in England was given by G T Ball (later Sir George Thalben-Ball) at the Royal College of Music in London.

The concerto is scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, snare drum, cymbals, piano and strings.

The first recording of the concerto was made by Vladimir Horowitz accompanied by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Albert Coates for the HMV label in 1930. This has been listed by English critic and writer Norman Lebrecht as one of the 100 greatest recordings ever made. It has been reported that after Horowitz performed it for Rachmaninoff in the Steinway & Sons basement in 1928 (with the composer performing the orchestral part on a second piano), Rachmaninoff was so impressed that he never played the work in public again. However, he recorded the work with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1939.

According to some critics, the most technically astounding Rach 3 ever registered is a live performance by Vladimir Horowitz accompanied by the New York Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra under Sir John Barbirolli, available on an off-the-air recording made in 1941.

Another noteworthy recording is Van Cliburn’s performance in Carnegie Hall on May 19, 1958, in celebration of his victory in the First International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Moscow a month earlier. The account, featuring Kiril Kondrashin and the Symphony of the Air is a probing, ruminative reading that presents the work in a different light than that of the blistering, and fast-paced, accounts often heard.

One of the most famous recordings of the piece, known for its speed, is that of Martha Argerich performing live with the Deklasikal.com › Edit Post — WordPressutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin conducted by Riccardo Chailly.

Another highly renowned performance of this work is that of the pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy, with Bernard Haitink conducting the Concertgebouw Orchestra.

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Martha Argerich: piano

Riccardo Chailly: conductor

Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra

part 1/5 (I)

part 2/5 (I)

part 3/5 (II)

part 4/5 (III)

part 5/5 (III)

Grigory Sokolov: piano

: conductor

part 1/5 (I)

part 2/5 (I)

part 3/5 (II)

part 4/5 (III)

part 5/5 (III)

Yefim Bronfman: piano

Valery Gergiev: conductor

Vienna Philharmonic

part 1/4 (I)

part 2/4 (I)

part 3/4 (II)

part 4/4 (III)

Piano Concerto Op. 30 No. 3 in D minor sheet music

This piece is one of his most enduringly popular pieces, and established his fame as a concerto composer.

At its 1897 premiere, Rachmaninoff’s first symphony, though now considered a significant achievement, was derided by critics. Compounded by problems in his personal life, Rachmaninoff fell into a depression that lasted for several years. His second piano concerto confirmed his recovery from clinical depression and writer’s block. The concerto was dedicated to Nikolai Dahl, a physician who had done much to restore Rachmaninoff’s self-confidence.

The opening movement begins with a series of bell-like tollings on the piano that build tension, eventually climaxing in the introduction of the main theme. In this first section, the orchestra carries the Russian-character melody while the piano makes an accompaniment made of arpeggios riddled with half steps. After the statement of the long first theme, a quicker transition follows until the more lyrical second theme, in E flat major, is presented.

The agitated and unstable development borrows motives from both themes changing keys very often and giving the melody to different instruments while a new musical idea is slowly formed. The music builds in a huge climax as if the work was going to repeat the first bars of the work, but the recapitulation is going to be quite different.

While the orchestra restates the first theme, the piano, that in the other occasion had an accompaniment role, now plays the march-like theme that had been halfly presented in the development, thus making a considerable readjustment in the exposition, as the main theme, played by the orchestra has become an accompaniment. This is followed by a piano solo, which leads into a descending chromatic passage and concluding with an eery french horn solo. From here the last minutes of the movement are placid until drawn into the agitated coda, and the piece ends in C minor fortissimo.

The second movement opens with a series of slow chords in the strings which modulate from the C minor of the previous movement to the E major of this movement. The piano enters, playing a simple arpeggiated figure. A flute then introduces the main theme. The motif is passed between the piano and other soloists before the music accelerates to a short climax centered on the piano. The original theme is repeated, and the music appears to die away, finishing with just the soloist in E major.

The last movement opens with a short orchestral introduction that modulates from E (the key of the previous movement) to C, before a piano solo leads to the statement of the agitated first theme. After the original fast tempo and musical drama ends, a lyrical theme is introduced by the oboe and violas. This second theme maintains the motif of the first movement’s second theme. After a long period of development tension is built up considerably. Near the end, Rachmaninoff restates the second theme in loud, fortissimo orchestration. After this, a fast, ecstatic coda draws the piece to a close, ending in C major.

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Evgeny Kissin: piano

Sir Andrew Davis: conductor

BBCSO

part 1/2 (I)

part 2/2 (I)

part 1/2 (II)

part 2/2 (II)

part 1/2 (III)

part 2/2 (III)

Arcadi Volodos: piano

Riccardo Chailly: conductor

Royal Concertgebow Orchestra

part 1/3

part 2/3

part 3/3

Boris Berezovsky: piano

Dmitry Liss: conductor

Ural Philarmonic Orchestra

part 1/3

part 2/3

part 3/3

Piano Concerto Op. 18 No. 2 in C minor sheet music

This was actually Rachmaninoff’s second attempt at a piano concerto. In 1889 be had begun but abandoned a concerto in C minor (the same key, incidentally, in which he would later write his Second Piano Concerto). He wrote Natalya Skalon on 26 March 1891, “I am now composing a piano concerto. Two movements are already written; the last movement is not written, but is composed; I shall probably finish the whole concerto by the summer, and then in the summer orchestrate it” He finished composing and scoring the piece on July 6 and was satisfied with what he had written. The first movement was premiered on 17 March 1892 at the Moscow Conservatoire, with the composer as soloist and Vasily Safonov conducting. This may have been the only time the composer played the concerto in its original form, although Siloti, to whom it is dedicated, programmed it to play himself on several occasions.

Composition students were usually advised to base their efforts on a specific model for their first exercises in new forms. In Rachmaninoff’s case this was the Grieg Piano Concerto, which was a favorite work of his and one which he had been familiar from Siloti practicing it at the Rachmaninoff household during the spring and summer of 1890 for future concerts. Rachmaninoff adapted the entire musical structure of the outer movements to the Grieg concerto, literally building his music into it. With all his other concertos, Rachmaninoff would prove more enterprising.

From the earliest part of this career, Rachmaninoff used his own skills as a performer to explore the expressive possibilities of his instrument. Even in his earliest works, which would include this concerto in its original form, he revealed a sure grasp of idiomatic keyboard writing and a superb gift for melody. However, the textures of these early works are usually opaque and chordal, lacking the variety he would later develop. His orchestration can often be colorless and heavy, the musical language on the whole often reminiscent of other Russian composers, especially Tchaikovsky. Rachmaninoff did not actually start developing an individual compositional voice until, ironically, the First Symphony.

Regardless of the concerto’s weaknesses in its lack of musical invention and its overly simple dramatic contrasts, the work demonstrates a potential for larger and more complex undertakings-something which could be considered remarkable for a 17- or 18-year-old composer. The harmony may be conservative and the development of the first movement overly reliant on repetitions that do not have much structural point. Nevertheless, he would do better soon in other works and even does so here when he does not lean so heavily on other composers as compositional models.

The public was already familiar with the Second and Third Concertos before Rachmaninoff revised the First in 1917. The First is very different work than those works. Rachmaninoff’s melodies are still there, if less memorably than in the other two concertos, but combined here with a youthful vivacity and impetuosity. Also, the differences between the 1890-1891 original and the 1917 revision reveal a tremendous amount about the composer’s development in the intervening years. There is a considerable thinning of texture in the orchestral and piano parts and much material that made the original version diffuse and episodic is removed.

The work is in three movements:

* Vivace (F sharp minor)

This contrast with the later works can be heard from the opening bars, where a brass fanfare precedes a flourish a double octaves and chords on the piano-a musical gesture similar to the Schumann and Grieg piano concertos. This flourish occurs later in the movement, as well, an important factor in the symmetry of the movement. The main theme (like the other themes in this work common to both versions) is short by Rachmaninoff’s standards but already shows the sequential devices and arch-like design inherent in his later works.

* Andante cantabile (D major)

This reflective nocturne is only 74 bars long. The texture is less cumbersome in the revised version; the harmonies remain the same but are enlivened by occasional chromatic notes.

* Allegro scherzando (F sharp minor → F sharp major) [1917 version: Allegro vivace]

Rachmaninoff replaced an initially drab opening with a fortissimo passage alternating between time signatures of 9/8 and 12/8. A maestoso reemergence of the concerto’s main theme was eliminated. In the original version he had attempted to use this theme in an upward sequential treatment similar to what he would do later in the Second and Third Concertos. The problem here was that the theme did not lend itself so easily to this treatment, thus sounding contrived. It also came too late in the movement to have the right expansive effort prevalent in the other concertos.

Of all the revisions Rachmaninoff made to various works, this one was perhaps the most successful. Using an acquired knowledge of harmony, orchestration, piano technique and musical form, he transformed an early, immature composition into a concise, spirited work. Nevertheless, he was perturbed that the revised work did not become popular with the public. He said to Albert Swan, “I have rewritten my First Concerto; it is really good now. All the youthful freshness is there, and yet it plays itself so much more easily. And nobody pays any attention. When I tell them in America that I will play the First Concerto, they do not protest, but I can see by their faces that they would prefer the Second or Third.”

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By Leif Ove Andsnes

Part 1/3

By Leif Ove Andsnes

Part 2/3

By Leif Ove Andsnes

Part 3/3

piano:Vladimir Ashkenazy

condutcor:Andre Previn

orchestra:London Symphony Orchestra

Part 1/4 Tempo 1

By Vladimir Ashkenazy

Part 2/4 Tempo 2

By Vladimir Ashkenazy

Part 3/4 Tempo 2

By Vladimir Ashkenazy

Part 4/4 Tempo 3

By Lillya Zilberstein

Part 1/4

By Lillya Zilberstein

Part 2/4

By Lillya Zilberstein

Part 3/4

By Lillya Zilberstein

Part 4/4

By Sviatoslav Richter

Part 1/4

By Sviatoslav Richter

Part 2/4

By Sviatoslav Richter

Part 3/4

By Sviatoslav Richter

Part 4/4

Piano Concerto Op. 1 No. 1 in F sharp minor sheet music

Grand Fantasia on polish theam Op. 13 sheet music

Grand Fantaisie on Polish Themes, Op 13

Jonathan Darlington: conductor
National Orchestra of France
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Part 2/3

Part 3/3

Valentina Lisitsa 1/2 part

Valentina Lisitsa 2/2 part

Variations on Mozart’s ‘La ci darem la mano’, for piano and orchestra, Op.2 sheet music

The work contains the three movements typical of instrumental concertos of the period:

1. Maestoso
2. Larghetto
3. Allegro vivace

In the finale, the violins are at one point instructed to play col legno (with the wood of the bow). The main theme of the final movement, as introduced by the piano, is classic Chopin – a delicate and yearningly poignant melody reminiscent of some of his mazurkas.

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Stephen Hough: piano

Edo de Waart:conductor
Sydney Symphony Orchestra
Part 1/2 1st movement

Part 2/2 1st movement

2nd movement

3th movement

Piano Concerto Op. 21 No. 2 sheet music

It was the first of Chopin’s two piano concertos to be published, and was therefore given the designation of Piano Concerto “No. 1″ at the time of publication, even though it was actually written immediately after what was later published as Piano Concerto No. 2. It is dedicated to Friedrich Kalkbrenner.

The concerto is scored for solo piano, a pair of flutes, oboes, clarinets, and bassoons, 4 horn, 2 trumpets, tenor trombone, timpani and strings.

It contains the three movements typical of instrumental concertos of the period:

1. Allegro maestoso
2. Romance – Larghetto
3. Rondo – Vivace

Classical critics usually fall into one of two schools of thought concerning the piece. The first of these says that given that Chopin was a composer for the piano first and foremost; the orchestral part of this piece acts more as a vehicle for the pianist, with the individual instrumental parts being uninteresting to perform. The second suggests that the orchestral backing is carefully and deliberately written to fit in with the sound of the piano, and that the simplicity of arrangement is in deliberate contrast to the complexity of the harmony.

It has been performed and recorded many times. Mily Balakirev made a well-known arrangement for solo piano of the Larghetto.

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Lang Lang: Piano

Lawrence Foster: Conductor
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Part 1/5

Part 2/5

Part 3/5

Part 4/5

Part 5/5

By Martha Argerich part 1/4

By Martha Argerich part 2/4

By Martha Argerich part 3/4

By Martha Argerich part 4/4

Piano Concerto Op. 11 No. 1 sheet music

Conductor: Zoltan Raine

Orchestra:Filarmonica de Silesia

1/2

2/2

Krakowiak, for piano and orchestra, Op.14 sheet music

The Grande Polonaise brillante is a work for piano and orchestra, although the piano part is often played on its own. This is usually considered to be Chopin’s most difficult piece for piano. The Andante spianato (spianato means “even, or smooth”) for solo piano was composed as an introduction to the Polonaise after Chopin received a long-awaited invitation to perform in one of Habaneck’s Conservatoire Concerts in Paris. The combined work was premiered by the composer there on April 26, 1835.

Chopin’s first work, written at age seven, had been a polonaise. The Grande Polonaise brillante of 1830-31 was to be the last such he would compose for several years. It preoccupied Chopin in his final months at Warsaw. It was finished at Vienna in 1831.

Andante spianato in G major

The quiet rippling effects of this introductory section are borne in a gentle 6/8, rounded with a chordal trio in C major, and a more processional 3/4. The very serene middle section is not a trio, but only a contrasting episode to complement the overall texture of the movement. Not being a trio, it is not in C major but remains in G major.

Grande Polonaise brillante in E-flat major

The Polonaise opens in fanfare. It moves into the ebullient and fearless dance form of which he was such a master. Chopin’s unexpected and brief excursions, the many electric shocks of surprise and alarm, and the sheer poetic gusto with which he approached these materials was astonishing and, for years, unequalled. In 1836 it was arranged as a piano quartet and, two years later, the solo piano work known today.

Consequently the polonaise has been regarded as one of the most famous and brilliant polonaise pieces.

By Nadejda Vlaeva

By Claire Huangci

By Evgeny Kissin Part 1/2

By Evgeny Kissin Part 2/2

By Yuindi Li

By Lang Lang

By Sviatoslav Richter

By Krystian Zimerman

Grande Polonaise brillante Op. 22 sheet music