Rachmaninoff, Moment Musical No 4

Sergéi Rachmaninoff had just turned 19 when fame started knocking on his door. His opera Aleko, with which he had graduated with honors in 1892, gold medal included, was being performed for the first time in St. Petersburg, to great acclaim from the public and critics.
As if this were not enough, a professor at the Conservatory, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, dazzled by the talent shown by the young composer, encouraged him to undertake a concert tour of the main Russian cities, which was, by the way, a great success.

At the Conservatory
But since, today as yesterday, it is better to count on a stable income to solve life, the following year he accepted a professorship at the Conservatory. He held this position for years despite the meager 50 rubles that the position provided him, with which he barely managed to travel around Russia as an itinerant concert pianist.

Financial difficulties
On the other hand, his publishers, enthusiastic since his famous Prelude in C minor were published in 1892, did not respond with the same eagerness to pay royalties. In Russia, they did not exist. Only a negotiated sum was paid to the author on a one-time basis. Despite the recognition he received, by the middle of 1896 Sergéi Rachmaninoff was facing serious financial difficulties.
It was necessary to make some money.

Sergei Rachmaninoff, c. 1909.
(1873 - 1943)

Moments Musicaux, Opus 16
Composed between October and December 1896, Moments Musicaux are a series of six piano pieces of diverse form, ranging from a nocturne, a song without words, a barcarolle, an etude, to a theme with variations. They were composed in imitation of Schubert's Moments Musicaux of 1828, although they distance themselves from the intense lyricism of the latter, for it is not by chance that almost seventy years have passed.

Moment Musical N° 4 in E minor
The enormous technical demands of Musical Moment No. 4, marked presto, shed light on the astonishing virtuosity that Rachmaninoff displayed in his performances, very well paid by the way, especially in the USA, when his cache did not go below 3,000 dollars per recital.
Some scholars have seen some similarities with Chopin's "Revolutionary" Etude, with some reason. Others, also with the Prelude in G major, with some less. Both opinions are based on the titanic left hand and the scarce melody that the three works share.

The outstanding rendition is by the pianist born in Beijing in 1987, Yuja Wang.