Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto 2 ((FULL)) Download

The Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18, is a concerto for piano and orchestra composed by Sergei Rachmaninoff between June 1900 and April 1901. The piece established his fame as a concerto composer and is one of his most enduringly popular pieces.

After the disastrous 1897 premiere of his First Symphony, Rachmaninoff suffered a psychological breakdown and depression that prevented composition for three years. In 1899, he was supposed to perform the Second Piano Concerto in London, which he had not composed yet, and instead made a successful conducting debut. The success led to an invitation to return next year with his First Piano Concerto; however, he promised to reappear with a newer and better one. After an unsuccessful meeting with Leo Tolstoy meant to revoke his writer's block, relatives decided to introduce Rachmaninoff to the neurologist Nikolai Dahl, whom he visited daily from January to April 1900. Rachmaninoff dedicated the concerto to Dahl for successfully treating him by restoring his health and confidence in composition.

Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto 2 Download

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From the summer to the autumn of 1900, he worked on the second and third movements of the concerto, with the first movement causing him difficulties. Both movements of the unfinished concerto were first performed with him as soloist and his cousin Alexander Siloti conducting on 15 December [O.S. 2 December] 1900. The first movement was finished in 1901 and the complete work had an astoundingly successful premiere on 9 November [O.S. 27 October] 1901, again with the same duo. Gutheil published the concerto the same year.

Rachmaninoff initially remained aloof to the failure of his symphony, but upon reflection, suffered a psychological breakdown that stopped his compositional output for three years.[13] He adopted a lifestyle of heavy drinking to forget about his problems.[14] Depression consumed him,[15] and although he rarely composed, he still engaged in performance, accepting a conducting position by the Russian entrepreneur Savva Mamontov at the Moscow Private Russian Opera from 1897 to 1898.[16] It provided income for the cash-strapped Rachmaninoff; he eventually left as it didn't allow time for other activities and due to the incompetence of the theater, which turned piano lessons into his main source of income.[17][18]

At the end of 1898, Rachmaninoff was invited to perform in London in April 1899, where he was expected to play his Second Piano Concerto. However, he wrote to the London Philharmonic Society that he couldn't finish a second concerto due to illness.[19][note 3] The society then requested he play his First Piano Concerto, but he declined, dismissing it as a student piece. Instead, he offered to conduct one of his orchestral pieces, to which the society agreed, provided he also performed at the piano. He made a successful conducting debut, performing The Rock and playing piano pieces such as his popular Prelude in C-sharp minor.[21] The society secretary Francesco Berger invited him to return next year with a performance of the First Concerto. However, he promised to return with a newer and better one,[22][23] although he did not perform it there until 1908.[24] Alexander Goldenweiser, a peer from the same conservatory, wanted to play his new concerto at a Belyayev concert in Saint Petersburg, thinking its consummation was inevitable.[17] Rachmaninoff, who had thoughts of composing it three years earlier, sent a letter to him stating that nothing had been penned so far.[25]

For the rest of the summer and autumn of 1899, Rachmaninoff's unproductiveness worsened his depression.[26] A friend of the Satins (relatives of Rachmaninoff[27]), in an attempt to revoke the depressed composer's writer's block, suggested he visit Leo Tolstoy.[28][note 4] However, his visit to the querulous author only served to increase his despondency, and he became so self-critical that he was rendered unable to compose.[30] The Satins, anxious about his well-being, persuaded him to visit Nikolai Dahl, a neurologist who specialized in hypnosis, with whom they had a good experience. Desperate, he agreed without hesitation.[31] From January to April 1900, he visited him daily free of charge. Dahl restored Rachmaninoff's health as well as his confidence to compose. Himself a musician, Dahl engaged in lengthy conversations surrounding music with Rachmaninoff, and would repeat a triptych formula while the composer was half-asleep: "You will begin to write your concerto ... You will work with great facility ... The concerto will be of an excellent quality".[32][33] Even though the results were not readily evident, they were still successful.[34]

The two finished movements were to be performed in the Moscow Nobility Hall on 15 December [O.S. 2 December] at a concert arranged for the benefit of the Ladies' Charity Prison Committee.[39] On the eve of the concert, Rachmaninoff caught a cold, prompting his friends and relatives to stuff him with remedies, filling him with an excess of mulled wine;[40][41] he didn't want to admit his desire to cancel the performance.[40] With him as soloist with an orchestra after an eight-year hiatus and his cousin Alexander Siloti making his conducting debut, it was an anxious event, but the concert was a great success,[38] easing the worries of his close ones.[40] Ivan Lipaev wrote: "it's been long since the walls of the Nobility Hall reverberated with such enthusiastic, storming applause as on that evening ... This work contains much poetry, beauty, warmth, rich orchestration, healthy and buoyant creative power. Rachmaninoff's talent is evident throughout."[42] The German company Gutheil published the concerto as opus number 18 the following year.[38][note 7]

Before continuing composition, Rachmaninoff received financial aid from Siloti to tide him over for the next three years, securing his ability to compose without worrying about rent.[44] By April 1901, while staying with Goldenweiser, he finished the first movement of the concerto and subsequently premiered the full work at a Moscow Philharmonic Society concert on 9 November [O.S. 27 October], again with him at the piano and Siloti conducting.[36][45] Five days before the premiere, however, Rachmaninoff received a letter from Nikita Morozov (his Conservatory colleague[46]) pestering him regarding the structure of the concerto after receiving its score, commenting that the first subject seemed like an introduction to the second one. Frantic, he replied, writing that he concurred with his opinion and was pondering over the first movement. Regardless, it was an astounding success, and Rachmaninoff enjoyed wild acclaim.[47][48] Even Cui, who previously scolded his First Symphony, displayed exuberance over the work in a letter from 1903.[49] The piece established Rachmaninoff's fame as a concerto composer and is one of his most enduringly popular pieces.[50] He dedicated it to Dahl for his treatment.[51]

After marrying his first cousin Natalia Satina, the newly-wed Rachmaninoff received an invitation to play his concerto with the Vienna Philharmonic under the direction of Vasily Safonov in December. Although the engagement guaranteed him a hefty fee, he was anxious that accepting it would show ingratitude towards Siloti.[58] However, after seeking his help, Taneyev reassured Rachmaninoff that this did not offend Siloti.[59][60] That was followed by concerts in both Vienna and Prague the following spring in 1903 under the same engagement.[61] In late 1904, Rachmaninoff won the Glinka Awards, cash prizes established in Belyayev's will, receiving 500 rubles for his concerto.[62] Throughout his life, Rachmaninoff soloed the concerto a total of 143 times.[63]

His debut with an American orchestra occurred on 8 November 1909, performing the concerto at the Philadelphia Academy of Music with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Max Fiedler's baton, including repeat performances in Baltimore and New York City.[66] Critics since the first performance were chiefly dismissive, echoing Philip Hale's program notes for the debut stating that "The concerto is of uneven worth. The first movement is labored and has little marked character. It might have been written by any German, technically well-trained, who was acquainted with the music of Tchaikovsky".[67][note 8] Richard Aldrich, who was a music critic for The New York Times, murmured about the overperformance of the work in proportion to its worth, but complimented Rachmaninoff's playing, stating that, with the assistance of the orchestra, "he made it sound more interesting than it ever has before here".[71] His last concert during the American tour was on 27 January 1910, performing the Isle of the Dead and his concerto under Modest Altschuler with his Russian Symphony Society,[72] who farewelled the homesick Rachmaninoff with appraisal of his Isle of the Dead but dismissal of the concerto as "not in any way comparable to Rachmaninoff's third concerto".[73][72] Rachmaninoff played the concerto eight times during the tour.[74] Despite the concerto's popularity, its critical reception has often remained poor.[75]

Following the 1917 October Revolution, Rachmaninoff and his family escaped Russia, never to return, seeing the US as a haven for remedying his financial situation; they arrived there one day before Armistice Day, following their temporary stay in Scandinavia.[76] Reginald De Koven praised a Rachmaninoff concerto performance under Walter Damrosch, writing that he rarely saw a New York audience "more moved, excited and wrought up".[74] A 1927 Liverpool Post article called the concerto a "somewhat catchpenny work though it had plenty of rather cheap glitter".[37] Rachmaninoff's last performance of the Piano Concerto No. 2 was on 18 June 1942 with Vladimir Bakaleinikov leading the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl.[77][78] Reviewing the performance in Los Angeles Evening Citizen News, Richard D. Saunders opined that the work is of a "songful quality, imbued with haunting melodies all tinged with sombre pathos and expressed with the graceful refinement characteristic of the composer".[79] 2351a5e196