Sergei Rachmaninoff Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerti. Term Paper

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..Conscientious historians may one day consider this concerto as the beginning of a 'third period' of the composer's life" (Veinus 350). This piece shows a true unity some of his other pieces lack, and indicates how Rachmaninoff grew as a composer as his career continued. The opening of the piece is quiet and hushed, and seems far different from the more strident first two concertos. While this piece starts simply enough, it grows to emphatically highlight the piano, and so calls for great talent from the pianist. The last movement is a virtuoso section that is quite alluring and entertaining, which rises to a soaring and elegant coda. There is also a memorable fanfare in the piece that could be a strong composition on its own. It is a very long piece, nearly 40 minutes, and consists of three distinct movements. It is still performed enthusiastically today by orchestras around the country.

The final concerto is the Concerto No. 4, in G Minor (Op. 40), for Piano and Orchestra. This piece was written in America and premiered in 1927 with the Philadelphia Orchestra. While this piece does not echo much of the modern music being composed in the 1920s, it does show some specific differences from earlier compositions. It seems somehow longing and quite sentimental, and many people believe this is because the composer was homesick for his homeland when he composed this piece in 1926 ("Webring").

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Rachmaninoff creates a central theme throughout this piece that the piano and then orchestra echo several times. The theme is "darkly dramatic," and clearly shows Tchaikovsky's influence on Rachmaninoff's work, especially in his youth. The second movement features a lovely clarinet solo, and the theme repeated by the piano at a rapid and unusual tempo. Rachmaninoff continued to rewrite and rework this piece for several years, but it is still quite representative of the romantic and lush music this composer was known for. Varying rhythms and melodies are tools Rachmaninoff uses in all his pieces, and they are evident in this piece in the changing tempos and echoed melodies. As his music matured, it was more difficult to categorize Rachmaninoff's work as only Romantic, and this may be one of the most important advances in this piece that separate it from the other three works. Rachmaninoff's music has matured by this point, and is more full and developed, and less dependent on only once source of inspiration.

In conclusion, these four works are some of Rachmaninoff's best known and best loved. They showcase his Romantic tendencies in composition, but also show he was a well-rounded composer who understood his main instrument, the piano, quite effectively, but also understood the nuances of the orchestra, and how to blend it with the piano to create stunning and memorable concertos......

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