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Sergei Rachmaninov Moment Musicaux Op. 16 No. 6 in C major

zygis — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 01:09:34 +0000

The last piece in the set, number six, is a quintessential nineteenth-century work, and has been described as an “apotheosis or completion of struggle.” The piece was once summarized as:

The final piece or movement of a cycle that is virtuosic and brilliant, employing the entire range of dynamics and sonorities available to the piano, bringing a set of pieces to a glorious conclusion.
-Robin Hancock, Boston University, 1992

This “stormy, agitated” work contains a “vehemently triple-dotted main theme and only some brief mid-section hazy sunshine [that lightens] the storm before fortississimo thunders return and finally dominate.” Despite the dark imagery presented to describe the piece, the work is in C major, and the end result is more light-hearted than dark, but not as triumphal as the Maestoso would make it sound.

Like the second and fourth pieces, number six is written in the form of an étude, with a repetitive but technically challenging chordal melody that is doubled in both hands. In all, the work has three distinct elements played simultaneously: the main melody, the continuous thirty-second note broken chord figures, and a descending eighth note motif. Dynamics play a large part in this piece: the fortissimo marked at the beginning is maintained all throughout the first section, with only brief respites to mezzo forte. The middle section is wholly softer, and contains two areas with significant mounting tension, creating the aforementioned “apotheosis effect” with dramatic “false starts.”[8] Here, Rachmaninoff manipulates the theme contrapuntally to develop a canonic effect. This “triple counterpoint. . . is titanic both in size and impact, and in potential for disaster,” referring to the tension, waiting for the final climax, in this “continuing explosion.” Immediately before the coda, the thick texture and canon suddenly disappear and the piece becomes piano. Upon entering the coda, the work resumes the forte theme and amalgamates to a majestic ending played fortississimo.

Maestoso is one of the most difficult pieces in the set. Stamina and strength are required to sustain a full resonant sound, while the continuous thirty-second figure can be tiring for the pianist. Consistent tempo is a problem for this piece, due to the melody being interspersed with two other elements. Additionally, the dynamics, mostly “loud” and “very loud,” indicate that an accurate vision of relative volume is necessary. Maintaining this accuracy while managing every other element of the piece and successfully presenting a musically solid performance continues to be the ultimate challenge of all.

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By Vadim Chaimovich

By Sviatoslav Richter

By Nikolai Lugansky

By Ivo Pogorelić

Moment Musicaux Op. 16 No. 6 in C major sheet music

Sergei Rachmaninov Moment Musicaux Op. 16 No. 2 E flat minor

zygis — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:10:28 +0000

The second piece, referred to as a “glittering showpiece”, is positioned in contrast to the lyrical and “atmospheric” melody of the first piece. The piece is in the quick tempo allegretto (quickly), at 92 quarter notes per minute. It is 131 measures long, the most of all six pieces, but the second shortest in terms of playing time, usually no longer than three and a half minutes (the shortest is number four). This piece represents a typical nineteenth-century étude, similar in style to Frédéric Chopin’s Études (Opp. 10, 12), with a melody interspersed between rapid sextuplet figures. It is in strict ternary form with a coda: identical beginning and ending sections beginning on measures 1 and 85, and a contrasting middle section starting on measure 45. The second section radically changes dynamics, constantly changing from piano to fortissimo and even sforzando. It is, throughout, a relentless torrent of descending half steps and a cascading left hand figure reminiscent of Chopin’s Revolutionary Étude (Op. 10, No. 12, 1831). Ending the piece is a slow coda in Adagio (at ease) which closes with a perfect authentic cadence in E-flat major.

Rachmaninoff revised this piece in March 1940, changing the melody but leaving the constant sextuplets, proving that the rushing figures are not simple bravura or flair.

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By Eduard Lenner

By Nikolai Lugansky

By Vladimir Sofronitsky

By Vladimir Horowitz

By Ivo Pogorelić

Moment Musicaux Op. 16 No. 2 E flat minor sheet music

Sergei Rachmaninov Moment Musicaux Op. 16 No. 1 in B flat minor

zygis — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 12:32:28 +0000

The first piece has an andantino (moderate) tempo, is 113 measures long, and is marked at 72 quarter notes per minute. It is divided into three distinct sections. The first presents a theme in common time (4/4) with a typical nocturne figure for the left hand. A mid-piece pause at roughly the same area in Schubert’s first Moments Musicaux further emphasizes the influence of Schubert. The second part is marked con moto (with motion), at 76 quarter notes per minute, and is a variation of the first theme in the unusual configuration of seven quarter notes per measure (7/4). This part ends in a cadenza. The third section presents the last variation of the theme, again in common time, but in the fastest tempo yet, Andantino con moto, at 84 quarter notes per minute. The piece ends in a coda that returns to the first tempo, and repeats portions of the previous three parts. It ends with a perfect authentic cadence into B-flat minor.

Andantino is the longest in the set by playing time (about 8:30). It is described as a “generic-hybrid,” combining elements of the nocturne and theme and variation genres. The melody is chromatic, syncopated, and long, all idiosyncratic elements Rachmaninoff often includes in his works. Because of this, the Andantino is sometimes called an extension of his Nocturne in A minor of the Morceaux de Salon set (Op. 10, No. 1, 1894). However, Andantino stands on its own with difficulties, such as the sections with multiple phrases in a single hand.

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By Vyacheslav Gryaznov

By Nikolai Lugansky

By Lazar Berman

By Ivo Pogorelić

Part 2/1

By Ivo Pogorelić

Part 2/2

Moment Musicaux Op. 16 No. 1 in B flat minor sheet music

Frédéric Chopin Prélude Op. 45 C sharp minor

zygis — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 20:11:48 +0000

The prelude in C-sharp minor, Op. 45 (sometimes listed as Prelude No. 25), was composed in 1841. It was dedicated to Princess E. Czernicheff, and contains widely extending basses and highly expressive and effective chromatic modulations over a rather uniform thematic basis.

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By Ivo Pogorelić

By Alessandro Drago

By Fou Ts’ong

By Rafał Blechacz

Prélude Op. 45 C sharp minor sheet music

Frédéric Chopin Prélude Op. 28 No. 24 D minor

zygis — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 19:50:15 +0000

The long last Prelude of the set, No. 24 opens with a thundering five-note pattern in the left hand. Throughout the piece, the left hand continues this pattern as the right hand plays a powerful melody punctuated by trills, scales (including a rapid descending chromatic scale in thirds), and arpeggios. The piece closes with three booming unaccompanied notes- the lowest D on the piano.

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By Alexander Kobrin

By Rafał Blechacz

Ivo Pogorelić

Prélude Op. 28 No. 24 D minor sheet music

Frédéric Chopin Prélude Op. 28 No. 23 F major

zygis — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 19:38:39 +0000

Prelude No. 23 is spacious and melodic in the left hand, with running semiquavers throughout in the right.

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By Alexander Kobrin

By Rafał Blechacz

By Ivo Pogorelić

Prélude Op. 28 No. 23 F major sheet music

Frédéric Chopin Prélude Op. 28 No. 22 G minor

zygis — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 19:19:05 +0000

Prelude No. 22, molto agitato, is in 6/8 time; it begins with a characteristic dotted rhythm (quaver, dotted quaver, semiquaver) that Scriabin was later to make his own, in his early preludes that are perhaps the most important to emulate this genre of Chopin’s.

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By Alexander Kobrin

By Rafał Blechacz

By Ivo Pogorelić

Prélude Op. 28 No. 22 G minor sheet music

Frédéric Chopin Prélude Op. 28 No. 21 B flat major

zygis — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 16:13:45 +0000

Prelude No. 21 is marked cantabile, and features an easy melody in the right hand; the left has continuous doubled quavers characterised by chromatic movement, taken up by the right hand also in the latter half of the piece.

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Sergei Rachmaninov Moment Musicaux Op. 16 No. 6 in C major

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By Vadim Chaimovich

By Sviatoslav Richter

By Nikolai Lugansky

By Ivo Pogorelić

Moment Musicaux Op. 16 No. 6 in C major sheet music

Sergei Rachmaninov Moment Musicaux Op. 16 No. 2 E flat minor

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

By Eduard Lenner

By Nikolai Lugansky

By Vladimir Sofronitsky

By Vladimir Horowitz

By Ivo Pogorelić

Moment Musicaux Op. 16 No. 2 E flat minor sheet music

Sergei Rachmaninov Moment Musicaux Op. 16 No. 1 in B flat minor

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

By Vyacheslav Gryaznov

By Nikolai Lugansky

By Lazar Berman

By Ivo Pogorelić

By Ivo Pogorelić

Moment Musicaux Op. 16 No. 1 in B flat minor sheet music

Frédéric Chopin Prélude Op. 45 C sharp minor

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By Ivo Pogorelić

By Alessandro Drago

By Fou Ts’ong

By Rafał Blechacz

Prélude Op. 45 C sharp minor sheet music

Frédéric Chopin Prélude Op. 28 No. 24 D minor

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By Alexander Kobrin

By Rafał Blechacz

Ivo Pogorelić

Prélude Op. 28 No. 24 D minor sheet music

Frédéric Chopin Prélude Op. 28 No. 23 F major

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By Alexander Kobrin

By Rafał Blechacz

By Ivo Pogorelić

Prélude Op. 28 No. 23 F major sheet music

Frédéric Chopin Prélude Op. 28 No. 22 G minor

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By Alexander Kobrin

By Rafał Blechacz

By Ivo Pogorelić

Prélude Op. 28 No. 22 G minor sheet music

Frédéric Chopin Prélude Op. 28 No. 21 B flat major

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By Alexander Kobrin

By Rafał Blechacz

By Ivo Pogorelić

Prélude Op. 28 No. 21 B flat major sheet music

Frédéric Chopin Nocturne in E flat major Op. 55 No. 2

By Ivo Pogorelić

Nocturne in E flat major Op. No. 2 sheet music