I was going to hook this onto the Prelude thread because my teacher wants me to start playing these too. But back to the Etudes - I have never looked at them before. I just ordered the book with complete preludes and etudes. My questions: Are the Etudes killers? ( by killers I mean like Chopin's etudes which are killers to me, and if they are, then I'm in trouble already) Do you have a favorite Etude? Thanks in advance for any insights.

they are extremely difficult I have heard. I'm in love with the E flat major number 5 of op.39 I believe it's soo awesome.

They are much different from the Chopin Etudes. Not as tightly focused on a specific problem but more like extended Romantic tone poems. I don't think R. had a pedagogical purpose in writing them, he just wrote for himself and that of course means these are formidably demanding in every respect. Much in the league of the concertos if on a smaller scale. Many of them are real killers, but some of them are quite manageable (you'll love the Op.33-3 and Op.39-2). I recorded the Op.33 1-3 last year but they came out raather shaky and insecure.

I'm wondering why your teacher would want you to play these (it sounded like it was not your choice.) Rachmaninoff seems to be what everyone goes for to try to play a difficult piece. It is not music to slop through and should be played after a healthy dose of mozart, Bach WTC, and Beethoven standard repetoire. Rach is one of my favorite composers, I think too many people play it who shouldn't get near it. It's a measure of expression. If you can't express a simple minuet correctly then there is no way your going to be able to express something like Rach correctly. I do not know your level however, but if your not sure you want to play it then it's probably not the piece for you.

Dear mattgreencomposer,
You obviously do not know me, but I can tell you that I do all right as far as "expressing myself". (some would say too much sometimes). Currently, I play the same music I have been playing for a long time, kind of re-learning everything. (go to my list of recordings to see examples) But I'm also getting into music that I've never played before, and I wish to expand my horizons. I'm the one who asked my teacher about Rach's music and now we are trying to decide where to start.




I just listened to the Op. 33 recordings we have here on the site. Chris, I think you are right that I may like no. 3. It is gorgeous. Yes, I can see myself playing that one, and you get to use all those very low keys . I also love the sound of 2 but that long trill scares me. Nice job on the ending, btw. I liked the no. 8 a lot, too. Not sure I can play the fast middle part with the runs, though. I'll look at it when my book arrives.

I went over these 3 extensively with my teacher, and I loved her metaphor of 'This is the sun going up over all the world' when we talked about that gorgeous major key part of the no.3. It is truly one of the most magical moments in all Rachmaninov. I have to warn that this one is harder than it sounds, and requires a large span (well what's new....).

Great

I recently took up op.33 no.7, and I've fallen in love with it. I'd never played Rachmaninoff before, because I thought that all his pieces were incredibly difficult, and I'm not that confident a player. This one seems to be pretty reasonable to me, and it truly is gorgeous! Doesn't really sound like an etude much at all.

What a coincidence. I'm playing this one too. And you're right. It's soooo gorgeous. I get goosebumps everytime I play it. I hope to record it next week, along with a prelude (except that it is giving me some problems still, so we'll see.)

I am learning Op. 33,6 and Op, 39,6, the last I mentioned is one of my favourite pianopieces. I believe it contains more chromatique than Liszts galop