Rachmaninoff - preludes op 3 №2 and op 23 №1. Performed by Anton Khazipov

#classicalpiano #music #piano Prelude (fr. Prélude) in C-sharp minor op. 3, No. 2 is one of the most famous and popular works of the Russian composer Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninov. It is the second part of a cycle of five numbers of “Fantasy Pieces“ for piano Op. 3 (fr. Morceaux de fantaisie), created in 1892. The first public performance of the prelude by the author took place on September 26, 1892 in Moscow. The entire opus was completed in the first half of December 1892 and, as part of five pieces, was performed on December 28 at Rachmaninov’s concert in Kharkov. In 1893, the cycle was published by the publishing house “A. Gutheil“ with a dedication to Anton Arensky, Rachmaninov’s teacher of composition. The composer made an electroacoustic recording of the piece for the Welte-Mignon pianola and on Ampico piano reels. He also created her arrangement for piano in four hands. The piece has been repeatedly arranged for various instruments, including orchestrated. Rachmaninoff’s preludes are almost always based on one moment, one gradually revealed state of mind. The g-moll prelude, built on a contrasting juxtaposition of a harsh, menacingly and steadily increasing marching movement with a dreamy lyric-melodic middle, seems to be an exception in this respect. The unity of the emotional character determines the consistency of the texture and the continuity of melodic development. The extraordinary breadth and duration of the melodic unfolding, so remarkably manifested in the Adagio from the Second Piano Concerto, is also characteristic of a number of preludes, the form of which appears as if in one breath and is difficult to dissect. This is the opening cycle of the elegiacally pensive prelude fis-moll with a widely drawn-out, slowly unfolding theme of the song warehouse. The melody develops from a short initial chant based on the variant principle and describes one large arc, reaching a bright high-altitude and dynamic climax, and then just as smoothly descends to the initial level with a gradual fading of dynamics, after which the final construction of the type of code is given. The form of this prelude contains fairly clear signs of three-partedness with an expositional construction, a developing middle and a dynamic reprise. But due to the fact that the boundaries between the sections of the form are blurred and no melodic construction is repeated literally, it seems that the music flows continuously, without stops and caesur. This impression is also facilitated by the ostinate drawing of the accompaniment, the extraordinary expressiveness of which is given by the persistently repeated mournful intonations of a sigh.