Keys to the Drama in Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No 2
The Best Moments
Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18
I'm Sergei Rachmaninoff, and what follows are the best moments of my Piano Concerto No 2. You'll find the music I wrote while recovering from the failure of my First Symphony, and you'll see why it brought me back to composing with such warmth. Whenever you're ready, give the Trainer a go , where my fellow composers and I teach you to recognize our pieces the moment they begin.
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The Bell Before the Show
I open the concerto with the piano alone, playing slow chords that swell like a big church bell clearing its throat before an announcement. Then the strings and a clarinet take up the main theme, and the odd part is that I wrote this movement last, in early 1901, so the beginning was the final thing I finished.
Slipping Out of the Party
I begin the slow movement by drifting away from C minor into the calmer key of E major, a bit like leaving a noisy room to sit quietly outside. A clarinet sings a long solo, and by the end the orchestra has faded away until the pianist is left completely alone, which is why Eric Carmen could later build "All by Myself" on this music.
A Serious Man Starts to Laugh
I marked the finale Allegro scherzando, which means lively and a little playful, so picture a very serious person finally allowing himself a grin. The music starts in C minor and works its way toward a bright C major, and the coda ends there with such a confident finish that listeners tend to want to clap before the last chord has died away.
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Did you enjoy looking back at the best moments of my Piano Concerto No 2? I hope the bell-like chords, the quiet clarinet and the long, slow fade left you with something to carry out of the room. There is still a good deal more to discover in this concerto, from the way the three movements fit together to the stories of the people who performed it and loved it after me. I wrote it at a time when I wasn't sure I could write anything at all, and I'm still moved that it found so many listeners. If you'd like to go further, please click on the links provided and keep exploring Piano Concerto No 2. Then, when you next hear those first slow chords, I hope they feel like an old friend arriving.