Classical Music | Piano Music

Sergei Rachmaninov

Piano Concerto No. 4 in g minor, Op. 40 (Original 1926 manuscript version)  Play

Eteri Andjaparidze Piano
Pascal Verrot Conductor
Round Top Festival Orchestra Orchestra

Recorded on 06/18/2011, uploaded on 07/25/2011

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Though one of Rachmaninoff’s greatest compositions filled with bold and powerful themes that never fail to impact an audience, the Second Piano Concerto, in a sense, became a sort of detriment to the composer, condemning his future essays in the genre to chilly, if not harsh reviews. The Third Piano Concerto, and even more so, the Fourth, were both panned by critics who were expecting a copy of that earlier immortal concerto, forgetting that a creative mind most always move forward and can never say the same thing twice. Rachmaninoff’s style had changed greatly since the composition of the Second Piano Concerto. His study of the works of Alexander Scriabin for the recitals in memory of the deceased composer in 1915 led to the first changes in Rachmaninoff’s style. However, the dramatic events of the succeeding years perpetrated even further changes. With the rise of the Bolsheviks and the painful death of the Russia he knew and loved, Rachmaninoff left his homeland for a concert engagement in Stockholm, never to return again. All he had with him was his family, his compositions, and Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Golden Cockerel. Eventually, the composer and his family came to America, and in order to support them, he put aside his creative work and took on a busy schedule of concertizing. No doubt, it is likely that it was not just for the purposes of money that Rachmaninoff temporary laid down his pen. Such a dramatic uprooting, transplanted across the world, surely had a profound impact on the composer.

At the end of 1925, after eight years of touring as a concert pianist, Rachmaninoff returned to composition and began working on the Fourth Piano Concerto. The origins of this work may possibly date back as early as 1911, when the composer stilled enjoyed his creative summers at his family estate in Ivanovka, but it was not completed until the summer of 1926. Even then, however, Rachmaninoff was not satisfied with the concerto, complaining of certain details to his colleagues. On March 18, 1927, he premiered the work as soloist with Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Initial reception of the work was cold, and Rachmaninoff faced the harshest reviews he had received since the failed premiere of his First Symphony. This time, however, the reviews could not be excused on the ground of and ill-rehearsed orchestra or a soused conductor. In the wake of such hostile criticism, Rachmaninoff did as he had done with his Second Piano Sonata, and much to the same detriment—revising and cutting passages. The revised work received several performances in Britain and continental Europe, but it fared no better. Frustrated, Rachmaninoff shelved the work until he had more time to work on it.

Fourteen years later, in 1941, Rachmaninoff finally returned to the Fourth Concerto, making it the last original composition he worked on before his death. The work was yet again subjected to paring, the piano part in places was simplified, and the orchestration revised. Even then, the latter still caused the composer some consternation. This new round of revisions was premiered by the composer that fall, and still failed to wholly impress. Consequently, the concerto has never since held a prominent position in the repertoire. However, in 2000, the Rachmaninoff Estate authorized the publication of the composer’s original manuscript, thus restoring the concerto to its unaltered form. Though it may never command the attention of the Second Concerto, the original version of the Fourth has at least faired far better now than at its premiere.      Joseph DuBose

Live from Round Top Festival 2011