This is one of my favourite slower works by Rachmaninoff. I first learned it way back in my university days and played it at a few concerts. Recently, I relearned it to share with my students for our annual Christmas recital. Its main theme is so beautiful, especially when Rachmaninoff adds the sparkling descant figure in the top voice on the second page. I love the fullness of the return to the A section; it could almost be part of a slow movement from one of his concertos.
Tag Archives: Rachmaninoff
Waltzing with Kabalevsky
**Waltzing with Kabalevsky sheet music**
The music of Dimitry Kabalevsky has had a big influence on me both as a student and teacher. The first work of his I learned to play was The Clown, a comical and indecisive caricature of a piece that every beginner pianist will recognize. I fondly remember learning his 24th prelude from op. 38 in the first year of my undergrad. This work barrels ahead like an industrial tempest but subsides in the closing section as the sun peaks its head out. Among my other favourite Russian composers such as Rachmaninoff, Shostakovich and Scriabin, Kabalevksy has influenced me greatly as a composer and it’s no surprise that soon after starting this funny waltz it seemed only fair to dedicate it to him.
My First Nocturne: Behind the Scenes
This year has been a rich one for me on my journey as a budding composer of piano music. I wrote many smaller works at the beginning of the year and finished a sonata in the summer. In the fall my free time has been occupied by writing in another genre, the nocturne. First pioneered by John Field and further popularized by Chopin, the nocturne is a piece for solo piano meant to be played at night. Like much of Chopin’s music it features a steady left hand with a right hand that often moves in an improvisatory way. The right hand is meant to mimic the silky smooth melody of a vocal work such as an aria. Nocturnes are normally peaceful but can become tempestuous and virtuosic at times such as in parts of Chopin’s Nocturne in C Minor op. 48 no. 1.
What Does a Musical Score Mean? Third Movement
Welcome to the third instalment of this series. Here we are demystifying, decoding, and deconstructing just what those crazy-looking musical scores mean. If you’ve always wondered how musicians can make sense of all those hieroglyphics then you’ve come to the right place. If you’re just coming aboard then please check out the first two articles: Movement 1 and Movement 2.
Frozen Tears
Introducing a new and haunting piece for piano. Frozen Tears has been compared to the music of Chopin mixed with Danny Elfman, the composer of soundtracks to movies including Edward Scissorhands and Corpse Bride. I can’t help but mention there is a bit of my favourite composer, Sergei Rachmaninoff, in there too.
Nordic Fantasy
If you love exploring the fantasy realm, be it through art, music or literature, then check out this new work for solo piano. Come and be whisked away into lands of ice and snow, where horn calls echo in the valleys as battle draws near!
10 Ways to Improve Your Sight Reading
Who hasn’t been impressed by someone who can sit down, open up a book of music at any spot, and start playing as if they’d been practising it for weeks?
Sight reading is the ability to read music at first sight. That’s right, music you’ve never seen or heard before.
How I “Accidentally” Became a University Music Student
They say that life never moves in a straight line. Although I’ve always been an industrious student, I’ve never really had a clear sense about where I was going when it came to a career. At one point in time I wanted to become a pilot, I even did the ground school for it. But for some reason that, like many things, never materialized. In my final year of high school it came time to decide what to do next.
Of course, there was always music. I had played piano most of my life, and when I wasn’t Continue reading