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Sergei Rachmaninoff completed his Piano Concerto No. 4 in G minor, Op. 40 in 1926 and the work currently exists in three versions. Following its unsuccessful premiere he made cuts and other amendments before publishing it in 1928. With continued lack of success, he withdrew the work, eventually revising and republishing it in 1941. The original manuscript version was released in 2000 by the Rachmaninoff Estate to be published and recorded. The work is dedicated to Nikolai Medtner, who in turn dedicated his Second Piano Concerto to Rachmaninoff.

By Nikolai Lugansky

By Vadim Chaimovich

By Vladimir Horowitz

By Valentina Lisitsa

By Vladimir Ashkenazy

By Sviatoslav Richter

By Vladimir Sofronitsky

Prelude Op. 32 No. 12 in G sharp minor sheet music

By Nikolai Lugansky

By Vadim Chaimovich

By Sviatoslav Richter

By Grigory Sokolov

By Vladimir Ashkenazy

Prelude Op. 23 No. 7 in C minor sheet music

By Nikolai Lugansky

By Abdel Rahman El Bacha

By Van Cliburn

By Vladimir Sofronitsky

By Vladimir Ashkenazy

By Grigory Sokolov

Prelude Op. 23 No. 6 in E flat major sheet music

By Nikolai Lugansky

By Abdel Rahman El Bacha

By Grigory Sokolov

By Sviatoslav Richter

By Vladimir Ashkenazy

Prelude Op. 23 No. 4 in D major sheet music

By Nikolai Lugansky

By Abdel Rahman El Bacha

By Grigory Sokolov

By Vladimir Ashkenazy

Prelude Op. 23 No. 3 in D minor sheet music

By Nikolai Lugansky

By Abdel Rahman El Bacha

By Sviatoslav Richter

By Grigory Sokolov

By Vladimir Ashkenazy

Prelude Op. 23 No. 1 in F sharp minor sheet music

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

Following the torrential gauntlets of number four is the fifth piece, likened in a Ph.D thesis to a passage in the Bible (1 Kings 19:12, read text), which says, “And after the fire came a gentle whisper.” This is in direct reference to the position of the work between two pieces with “incredible pyrotechnics,” as the figurative calm before and after the storm. The piece is similar to the form of a barcarolle, a folk song with a rhythmic tuplet accompaniment. Playing it takes approximately five minutes, and it is 53 measures long, the shortest in terms of measures. It is an adagio sostenuto (sustained at ease) at 54 quarter notes per minute, with a simple melody presented in ternary form.

The fourth piece is similar to the second in the quality of its performance. The fourth piece reveals resemblance to Chopin’s Revolutionary étude in the taxing left hand figure place throughout. Further it looks, sounds, and feels as if it were an improvisation on Chopin’s Prelude in G major (Op. 28, No. 3). The piece is 67 measures long, with a duration of about three minutes, and has the fastest tempo of the set, Presto (quick) at 104 quarter notes per minute, and is the shortest work in terms of playing time.

Again, the next piece drastically differs from the previous: the continual gauntlets of number two is relieved by the third piece in the set, an “introspective rêverie [daydream].” Drawing on the previous illustration of a “generic hybrid,” this piece is described as a mixture between the song without words and funeral march genres, to create what is called the “most Russian” piece of the set, containing both sonorous bass and a solid melody, characteristics of Russian music.

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.

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.

By Alexander Gavrylyuk

By Pavel Raikerus

By Sviatoslav Richter

By Vladimir Horowitz

By Vladimir Ashkenazy

By Nikolai Lugansky

Etude – tableaux Op. 39 No. 9 in D major sheet music

This piece is a lyrical and musical study of double notes. It requires precise pedaling, flexible and independent figures, and agility. The piece has very long, defined legato melodic lines that are contrasted by a staccato middle section.

By Alexander Gavrylyuk

By Vladimir Kuznetsov Venue

By Vladimir Ashkenazy

By Sviatoslav Richter

By Nikolai Lugansky

Etude – tableaux Op. 39 No. 7 in C minor sheet music

This aggressive and daunting piece opens with threatening chromatic octave runs low on the keyboard, answered by quick, chattering treble figures that eventually transform themselves into a march. The music grows hectic and, having reached presto, sounds nearly out of control. The effect of the piece is seemingly mysterious yet fully unified. Referred to as “Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf”, the piece ends with the chromatic runs sounding as though the wolf swallowed Red Riding Hood whole.

By Evgeny Kissin

By Alexander Gavrylyuk

By Alexei Sultanov

By Vladimir Horowitz

By Nikolai Lugansky

By Vladimir Ashkenazy

Etude – tableaux Op. 39 No. 5 in E-flat minor sheet music

By Alexander Gavrylyuk

By Sviatoslav Richter

By Vladimir Sofronitsky

By Nikolai Lugansky

By Vladimir Ashkenazy

Etude – tableaux Op. 39 No. 4 in B minor sheet music

By Andrei Gavrilov

By Sviatoslav Richter

By Vladimir Ashkenazy

By Nikolai Lugansky

Etude – tableaux Op. 39 No. 3 in F sharp minor sheet music

Also known as “The Sea and the Seagulls”. Though technically simple, the work contains many musical textures that make it a difficult study in touch. This melancholy piece requires much restraint from the performer to project the sedate mood of this etude. A sensitive performance is required to keep the performance from being monotonous. The technical workings of the etude is the 2 over 3 timing, the crossing hands, and large span of the arpeggiated figures for the left hand. The ending is tragic and poetic.

A big, loud piece with prevalent patterns of leaps in the left hand, creating a huge roar. The piece has grand dissonances but also contains a gorgeous romantic interlude. There are two references to the Prélude in C-sharp minor; could this piece be a venting of his anger and frustration at the public’s fascination with and demand for him to play that early prélude?

A melancholy piece whose sixteenth note accompaniment interweaves between hands. The main difficulty of the piece is facilitating smooth alterations with the hands without affecting the fluency of the melody.

Nicknamed “Scene at the Fair” as confessed by Rachmaninoff himself to Respighi, the piece conjures a playful and vibrant atmosphere, with its blaring fanfare opening thirds and wild alternating chords. The middle section poses a great pianistic problem with huge leaps of the hand that lead to chordal actions, which at points are 10th chords, rendering playing the figures at the correct tempo much more difficult. The piece requires strength, precision,endurance, rhythmic control, and dynamic and tonal balance.

By Abdel Rahman El Bacha

By Sviatoslav Richter

By Vladimir Horowitz

By Vladimir Ashkenazy

By Nikolai Lugansky

Etude – tableaux Op. 33 No. 5 E flat minor sheet music

By Abdel Rahman El Bacha

By Nikolai Lugansky

Etude – tableaux Op. 33 No. 4 D minor sheet music

By Abdel Rahman El Bacha

By Vladimir Ashkenazy

By Nikolai Lugansky

Etude – tableaux Op. 33 No. 3 in C minor sheet music

By Abdel Rahman El Bacha

By Hélène Grimaud

By Vladimir Ashkenazy

By Vladimir Horowitz

By Nikolai Lugansky

Etude – tableaux Op. 33 No. 2 C major sheet music

This piece is a study on alternating hands and syncopations. The piece shifts unsteadily throughout in time signature from 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 5/4, and 3/2. Some find parallels between this piece and Chopin’s Etude Op. 25 No. 4, jestingly saying that Rachmaninoff played it while writing this etude

By Nikolai Lugansky

Nocturne in C minor Op. 48 No. 1 sheet music

By Janne Mertanen

By Nikolai Lugansky

Nocturnes in D-flat major Op. 27 No. 2 sheet music