You want a piece of that guy?
He reduced pianos to splinters (sort of) and he had the quickest hands in the west. The East, too.
Sergei Rachmaninoff is one of the revered musicians to ever compose –and play– music for the piano. (More on him HERE.)
Trying to grapple with this giant could literally push an aspiring maestro over the edge. This very real drama is immortalized in an epic scene from the flawed but fascinating movie Shine, which depicts the rise, fall and redemption of pianist David Helfgott.
Anyone up for that challenge?
That level of dedication, intensity and all-in commitment makes punk rock look like Patty Cake.
Happily filed under “you learn something every day”, my friend –the brilliant scholar Paul Sturtevant— dropped some knowledge on me yesterday, and I quote him in full:
Rachmaninoff wrote a series (Opus 33 and 39) of what is popularly called “Program Music” or “picture pieces.” He did not want to tell people what the music represented – he insisted that everyone should develop their own story to fit after listening to the music. It wasn’t until Ottorino Respighi asked if he could re-orchestrate the piano solo into a full orchestra piece that Rachmaninoff revealed that he had based it upon “Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf” as the tune later became known. But the Russian version of the tale, which distinctly lacks a happy ending.
The artist in this video is Ukrainian-born pianist Valentina Lisitsa. She is known for selecting and mastering very technically challenging pieces. At about the midway point I have wondered who is more insane – Rachmaninoff for expecting that anyone would actually be able to play this or Lisitsa for working on this to the point where she is able to play it this quickly. Really quite amazing.
What he said.
