Piano Concerto No. 2 (Rachmaninoff)

Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 18, is a piano concerto written in 1901 in the key of C minor. It is considered one of the greatest piano concertos of all time, and serves as a definitive work of the late Romantic Era.

Origins

The 1897 premier of Rachmaninoff's first symphony, though now considered a significant achievement, was derided by critics. This, combined with problems in his personal life, sent Rachmaninoff into a depression that lasted for several years. Rachmaninoff's second piano concerto heralded the official recovery from his years living under depression and writer's block.

Concerto

It is written in a traditional concerto form:

Moderato
Adagio sostenuto
Allegro scherzando

The second piano concerto is known for its difficulty and the size of the hands required to play this piece. At some parts of the concerto, the pianist is required to stretch one hand 9 whole steps (a very large interval to reach on the piano).

Moderato

Before the introduction of the main theme, the concerto begins with a series of slow steeple bell-like tollings, a crescendoing eight bar subtle chord progression steadily rocking against a solo contrabass F. This unique introduction immediately establishes to the listener the underlying spirit of Russian Nationalism definitive of musical styles during the Late Romantic Era. The chords continue to grow with tension until eventually bursting into a torrent of rhythmic piano accompaniment to the main theme. One of the unusual features of Rachmaninoff's second piano concero is the notable lack of focus on the soloist during the opening movement. After the bell tollings, the main theme is introduced by the strings who continue to carry the melody until the piano breaks off into its first solo statement.

Adagio sostenuto

The opening section of the second movement contrasts sharply with the whirlwind ending of the previous movement. In what perhaps may be considered an allusion to the beginning of the first movement, a series of slow crescendoing chords are again introduced by the piano building with tension until this time instead relaxing after climax into a slow to the flurry is a slow adagio.

Allegro scherzando

The third movement is lighter in scope, but is full of contrast. It features an extremely difficult scherzando character accompanied with the recurrence of the harmonic progression found in the opening bars of the piano introduction of the first movement (now in the orchestra) and also a theme heard in first movement as well. It concludes with an extrovertedly loud rhythmic ending alluding to syllables, "Rach-Ma-Nin-Off."

Today

No.2 is now one of the most popular piano concertos worldwide, and is performed often. Multiple recordings exist, featuring pianists Byron Janis, Sviatoslav Richter, Alexis Weissenberg, Philppe Entremont, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Lang Lang, Chuan Li, and the composer himself, Sergei Rachmaninoff.

Arrangements of the first movement have been used in the routines of several notable figure skaters, including Sasha Cohen, Fumie Suguri, and Mishkutienok/Dimitriev. Lu Chen used the second movement in the 1996 World Figure Skating Championships and earned two perfect marks of 6.0.

In popular culture

The adagio sostenuto is the basis for the melodic theme of the 1976 pop/rock hit All By Myself by Eric Carmen (1976).
The allegro scherzando theme is the basis for Frank Sinatra's 1945 Full Moon And Empty Arms.
The concerto has also made it into several movies, including: The Seven Year Itch, where Marilyn Monroe says: "Every time I hear it I go to pieces!"; Brief Encounter; The World of Henry Orient; Rhapsody; Center Stage; and The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement.
The concerto was played by a character on the TV series "Smallville".

External links

Rachmaninoff's Works for Piano and Orchestra An analysis of Rachmaninoff's Works for Piano and Orchestra including the Piano Concertos and the Paganini Rhapsody
Geoff Kuenning article on the Concerto @ UCLA
A breakdown of the work @ The Flying Inkpot.com