Rachmaninoff, Piano Concerto No 3

The magnificent reception in 1901 of his Piano Concerto No. 2, together with the many merits gathered up to then by Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff as a conductor, led to the 29-year-old Russian pianist and composer being offered in 1904 the musical direction of the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. There he remained until 1906 when, due to the social tension that was shaking Russian life in all areas, he was forced to resign after an escalation of resignations of a good number of his collaborators, for political reasons.

Natalia and Sergei, around 1920

The good years
They were, however, the best years of Sergei Vasiliévich. In 1902 he had finally succeeded in marrying a cousin, an audacious idea that, among other obstacles, meant obtaining the permission of the tsar. In the company of Natalia Alexandrovna Natina, the composer and magnificent pianist began a long journey that took the happy couple to Italy and Dresden, waiting for events in Russia to normalize. This was followed by performances in England, Germany, and Holland. In the meantime, he completed two operas. At the peak of his career, Rachmaninoff had no doubt that the New World would one day claim his presence.

Trip to New York

The family's summer residence, "Ivanovka", served the couple as a bucolic rest between tours. Faced with the idyllic setting, Natalia feared that the maestro, who showed a certain tendency to sluggishness, would not work hard enough. On the contrary, with his eyes set on the prescient tournée, the composer did work intensively, and when in 1909 he was finally invited to New York, Rachmaninoff traveled there with his Third Piano Concerto entirely completed. With the composer as soloist, the concerto premiered on November 28 of that year, followed by successful tours of Philadelphia, Chicago, and Boston. In January 1910 Rachmaninoff made another appearance, this time accompanied by the New York Philharmonic conducted by Gustav Mahler.

The definitive departure

On his return to his homeland, the Russian stages dressed up every time the famous musician appeared as a piano player or conductor of the Moscow Philharmonic. But the Russian people were about to shake the world, and the First World War only precipitated the events. Sergei Rachmaninoff, a member of the Russian bourgeoisie, saw his way of life inevitably altered, and on December 22, 1917, taking advantage of a providential invitation, he got on a sleigh, with his wife and children, toward Helsinki. From there, the Rachmaninoffs would leave for the USA in October of the following year, never to return.

Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 3 in D minor

Fairly considered as the most remarkable of his works for piano and orchestra, it was at the same time resisted by many performers due to its almost insurmountable technical difficulties, as well as by the public who maintained their preference for the more melodious and compact Concerto No. 2. Rachmaninoff himself eliminated certain passages from the work to make it more "suitable for concert performances", although it has recently been performed again in its original version, which lasts about 40 minutes.

Movements:
00:00  Allegro ma non-tanto - Constructed in sonata-allegro form.
17:30  Intermezzo: Adagio: Theme and variations. It moves into the last movement, without pause, in:
29:02  Finale: Alla breve - Quick and vigorous, in sonata-allegro form.

The rendition is by Yuja Wang, accompanied by the Vienna Philarmonic conducted by Colombian maestro Andrés Orozco-Estrada.