Rachmaninoff Piano No 3 in D minor Op 30

Sometime in Dec 2009 while I was on leave from work for almost a month, I was introduced to a new fellow HiFi fraternity while on one of my regular visits to HiFi wonderland. He was there to test out an equipment and the owner asked what he would like to listen to and he mentioned classical and a CD of Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No 3 was lying on the coffee table and he suggested why not try this as it is something he is familiar with. This was my second encounter with a HiFi fan that loved this piece and the other person actually brings a recording of this piece around HiFi shops as a reference sounding board. The shop owner introduced me to his customer as one that loves classical music and he said to me that surely I must have this piece as it is almost like staple food of classical music. I did not answer his question as Rachmaninoff was not on my list of favorite composers and I only vaguely remembers his signature Piano Concerto No 1. Not wanting to be embarrassed, I told myself that I must go find out more about this piece and do some serious listening.

To my pleasant surprise, I found that I have 2 full recordings of this piece and decided to start listening to it and at first, I must admit that I was of the opinion that this piece must be an acquired taste like durians; you either love it or hate it and there is no two ways about it. The piece fell off my listening priority for a few weeks and one late evening or shall I say wee hours of morning whilst I was in a contemplative moods, I turned on Apple IPod and was intending to listen to Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No 1 but accidentally swipe the click wheel too quickly and it landed me on his Piano Concerto no 3 and suddenly, the beginning motif seems to catch my attention and I listen on to all the 3 movements and it began to grew on me. It must not have been the superior sonics as I was listening miniature Altec Lansing speakers attached to my IPod and it was an old recording by famous pianist Van Cliburn and therefore it had to be music. Moreover, it was a live recording with a somewhat nosier audience or perhaps the sound engineer was lacking in skills in removing the audience noise from the recording. Some of my HiFi friends told me that there are basically two categories of HiFi fans, those that listen to the equipment against those that listen to the music. I try to strike a balance between the two and this is perhaps the reason I ended up with a decent size library of about 1400 classical CDs.

After listening to all 3 movements for a second time, I think I am beginning to like this piece like never before. The next day, I listened to the second recording I have by Zoltan Kocsis with San Francisco Symphony Orchestra under the hand of Edo deWaart. This recording was slightly faster paced than Van Cliburn version and between the two, I preferred the latter one as it the tempo seems to jive better with the melody and more emotive as possible to Kocsis catch the 'A' train tempo.

Not long thereafter, during one of my online shopping, I chance upon a live recording of this piece by world renown Chinese pianist Lang Lang version of this piece and in it went to the basket and it arrived at my door step a few later thanks to the snow storm plaguing USA coupled with the Christmas season. I was pretty surprised as I expected the version by Lang Lang to be more exuberant than normal as with most of his pieces but he surprised me with a tempered playing style that was much closer Van Cliburn and I check my CD player to make sure that I had the right CD and it was correct.

A bit about the origin of the piece. As Dvorak has his symphony no 9 'New World' as he composed it in USA, there is some parallel between the two. Rachmaninoff was to have a grand tour of the about 30 cities in USA arranged for him and he wrote this piece specifically for the tour. However, due to sudden death of his USA concert tour sponsor and he thought that the deal was off but it was not to be the case as Rachmaninoff actually contracted with the company and not the dead person and he was obliged to full-fill the USA tour. He wrote most of the entire piece in continental Europe and finished it save for the cadenza. An ingenious Rachmaninoff prepared a cardboard to mirror the keys of the Piano and he wrote the cadenza silently so to speak while crossing the Atlantic to USA on ship that took days instead of hours by air now. On the opening night, he played his silently composed cadenza for this first time to much acclaim of the audience not knowing the background. He swore never to have such a close shave again.

This piece was to become a much loved and requested piece of music during the tour and also subsequently when he left Russia motherland for good for USA to escape the communist revolution taking place then. He lived his last days in USA and never got a chance to return back to Russia that he so loved.

For those of you that are keen, here are the details of the 3 CDs from which I have used to write this commentary:

1.Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No 3 Lang Lang-TELARC SACD-60582 (SACD)

2.Rachmaninoff/Prokofiev/Van Cliburn-LIVING STEREO 82876 67894 2 (SACD)

3.Rachmaninoff: Complete Works For Piano And Orchestra-Philips B00005O83Z

Have a good listen to this piece composed around the turn of 1900 and be patient and the bouquet would unfold slowly but surely onto you like all good wine and perfurme that takes time to mature and cannot be rushed.

Peter Lye aka lkypeter

Safe Harbor. Please note that information contained in these pages are of a personal nature and does not necessarily reflect that of any companies, organizations or individuals. In addition, some of these opinions are of a forward looking nature. Lastly the facts and opinions contained in these pages might not have been verified for correctness, so please use with caution. Happy Reading. Peter Lye