MUSIC MINUTE: “Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor {Op. 30}”, Rachmaninoff Plays Rachmaninoff

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“Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music.”

-Sergei Rachmaninoff

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Whether you spell it Rachmaninoff or Rachmaninov, Sergei Rachmaninoff was a man of undoubted personal style.

A subtle style. But a sure of himself style. It’s the kind of style you could expect from the man who created some of the most complex, dark, and demanding music ever created (Anyone who saw “Shine” knows what I mean . . .).

Cecil Parkes: Rachmaninov? Are you sure?

David: Kind of. I’m not really sure about anything.

Cecil Parkes: The Rach 3. It’s monumental.

David: It’s a mountain. The hardest piece you could everest play.

– SHINE (1996)

In fact, this is the song that makes the then not crazy, brilliant Australian piano protege David Helfgott (played by Noah Cross), literally go crazy, to emerge as a still brilliant, but crazy, Australian piano protege

So if that’s any sign, be sure to imagine this man’s mastery as you listen to him play his own composition – the dangerously, beautifully romantic, mysterious, and powerful piece, “Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor {Op. 30}“.

One of the greatest pianists there ever was, he was also known to have an uncanny memory, and with a set of extra large hands (Marfan Syndrome), he was able to maneuver some of the most complex and challenging chordal configurations.

He managed to escape the Russian Revolution, and even recorded with Thomas Edison in the earliest days of record making, creating recordings for Edison’s phonograph.

He eventually died just four days before his 70th birthday in Beverly Hills, California.

With style comes great taste. One of the benefits of great taste, is that you can enjoy music like this. . .

This is one of his most provocative and moving pieces he ever wrote, and with the help of today’s technology, we can listen to a recording of the man himself, Sergei Rachmaninoff, performing his own, legendary masterwork.