Music
My favorite composer is Rachmaninov. I played his second piano concerto in the fall of 1998. I am still facinated by his works. I have a passion for dissonant and depressing music.
you are currently listening to Rachmaninov's second piano concerto. I have placed the three movements in the order 3,1,2. I like the third part best. I've done this because chances are you won't be here the 47 minutes it would take to play the entire concerto in full. If you are here at the end of the third, click play (>) on the next MIDI player.
The composer, pianist, and conductor Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninov is considered the last in the great tradition of Russian romantic composers. He was born April 1 1873, at his family's estate, Semyonovo, in the Russian province of Novgorod. At about the age of 5, he began piano studies with his mother. In 1882 he entered the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, but he transferred 3 years later to the Moscow Conservatory. There he studied under the rigorous supervision of Nikolai Zverev, through whom he met many of the most important Russian composers of the time. Tchaikovsky, especially, exercised a major influence on him. He graduated in piano in 1891 and in composition with the Great Gold Medal in 1892.
At just 19 years of age, Rachmaninoff sold some pieces outright to a publisher who failed to secure an international copyright. Among them was the Prelude in C-sharp Minor (1892), which would bring publishers a fortune and the composer world fame. The failure of his First Symphony in 1897 stifled his inspiration, sending him into depression for 3 years. Following treatment by hypnosis, he produced the Second Piano Concerto in 1901. It inspired a period of creativeness that lasted until 1917, yielding 22 of his total production of 45 opus numbers. Apprehensive about the Bolshevik Revolution, he left Russia, making the United States his base of operations and, after 1939, his home. At first he composed nothing. Then between 1926 and 1940, five final works appeared, including the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (1934) and the Third Symphony (1936). His international concert career intensified in exile. He toured until a month before his death on Mar. 28, 1943, in California.
Rachmaninoff's music often recalls distinctively Russian sounds. Fuges reformulated into abstract ideas, as in the C-sharp Minor Prelude, the opening of the Second Piano Concerto, or the main theme of the finale of the Third Piano Concerto (1909). The modality, formulaic melody, and intonational rhythms of many themes recall melody types found both in Russian Orthodox chant and the folk-ballad song, as in the opening of the Third Piano Concerto and the first theme of the First Symphony.
This is the afore mentioned Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. It has been broken down into a set of six movements. To begin, click play (>).
_____1-6___________7-10___________11-15_____
_____16-17__________18____________19-24_____
This is his Prelude in C# minor.
All of the music on this page sounds best if the piano music is bought and learned. A CD comes in as a close second. The music is here only to give you an window into my insanity. I won't put third piano concerto on this page, because it is almost exactly like his second which is at the top of my main page. If you haven't seen Shine, go rent it, I think it explains a lot.(By the way, the background is from Piano Concerto No. 2, the second movement, measures 106-109. I'll leave some blank space so you can see it.)
One of my most recent Piano endeavour is Sakura, Sakura. It is Japanese... Here is the Song and it's lyrics:
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person to visit this page. Thank you :-)
