Rachmaninoff Prelude, Op. 23, No. 4 in D Maj (1901):
I've always wanted to do this sort of thing - get my piano posted, but to be honest I was always pretty nervous when I got onto stage. But I do enjoy playing piano and wouldn't mind posting some videos, so here's the first of (hopefully many) to come.
As many of you probably know, Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) was a composer in the Romantic Period of music. He was a composer of great talent - and both his piano concerto 2 and 3 stand as the greatest works in the piano repertoire, and certainly both lie as personal favourites. His music is also reflective of great hardships that he endured in life; the death of Tchaikovsky, a close friend and mentor, as well as harsh reviews on his compositions and complicated relationships pushed him into a depression, and often this pain is apparent in his music.
As a personal reflection of this music, it was close to impossible to get this piece to a level that I was satisfied with. In terms of accuracy, it's not the most technically difficult piece (and hence you can see my piano ability here is not the greatest); but in terms of capturing the spirit of the piece, this was the only recording I've had over the last fortnight that I've been remotely happy with. But I can say that when I was playing, I felt that sense of pain that Rachmaninoff must have been trying to express, and imagined an aching desire upon his behalf to belong.
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