I have always found this to be one of the most heart-breakingly beautiful melodies in all of classical music. Thanks for helping me understand why.
@paulinhocorrea87052 жыл бұрын
Me too!
@gesundheit6022 ай бұрын
Rachmaninoff feeds my soul! 🙂 Singer/songwriter Eric Carmen passed recently and I was listening to his song “All By Myself,” which was a big hit for him and also later for Celine Dion. Eric based the verse on the second movement (Adagio sostenuto) of Rachmaninoff's 1900-1901 Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Opus 18. Eric also had another very successful song called “Never Gonna Fall in Love Again” and he based the melody on the third movement (Adagio) from Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2. It just goes to show you how timeless music is and how these amazing works from long ago can inspire new songs even today.
@SEkSkapela2 жыл бұрын
your channel is something I was searching for, I love when people talks inteligently about music they play
@LearnLoveMusic2 жыл бұрын
Glad you found us. Keep watching!
@pchabanowich Жыл бұрын
To invert the first theme, which could be quick, and find a new key for it , and lavish us with a melody poignantly ravishing is the signature of his genius. 💐
@virginiam18992 жыл бұрын
Thank you so much! You are both a gifted musician and a gifted educator.
@LearnLoveMusic2 жыл бұрын
Thank you for the kind words!
@mariapap89622 жыл бұрын
Rachmaninoff is by far my favourite composer! Currently learning this so this video is very useful right now. Thank you!
@mangomerkel20054 күн бұрын
This theme was the main theme of me and my ex-girlfriend... She loved it so much! That's why I learned it for her and gave her the sheet music I used (including remarks I did). I hope she cherishes this present I gave to her. I hope.
@lisacalgary56602 жыл бұрын
I love your passion and analysis. This insight is so valuable as a pianist and as a listener. Thank you!
@LearnLoveMusic2 жыл бұрын
Glad you enjoy it!
@vivianepilou22112 жыл бұрын
For me this is the most beautiful piece in music. Reflects all the human emotions of life , joy, melancholy, sadness, hope, passion and much more. It thus encompasses everything happening in a lifetime. And this is why I have express the wish that this variation is played at my funeral. It was interesting to learn about the technical specifications of the piece but I listen to music with my heart and not my brain.
@veot.28692 жыл бұрын
Wonderful, beautiful and enchanting. So many times I have heard this piece and I just am not satisfied. I want more of the beauty and the harmony from the piano and the orchestra. The wonderment of a musician never ceases to amaze me. It inspires me to get back at it.
@eggizgud2 жыл бұрын
Yes, love your analysis and this variation, of course. Genius composition. But I also love the transitionary passage introducing this one, arguably more beautiful? How he brings us from the intensity of the previous variation, slowing down our expectations, with so many teasers, and then the revelation at the end of it is like heaven.
@m-ksh Жыл бұрын
A year late, but I can't agree more with you. In my opinion what makes Variation 18 just so, so beautiful is the way it "clears" and transitions from the end of Variation 17
@gracecotton98192 жыл бұрын
Thank you very much for playing this through for us. It was the first time I had heard this being played without an orchestra.
@ms.annthrope4152 жыл бұрын
What brilliant insight. Thank you for the education.
@mefirst5427 Жыл бұрын
Those huge beautiful chords without the orchestra are amazing. I can see someone just improvising with those alone. Very nice breakdown tutorial.
@JakeYeung2 жыл бұрын
Wow I've heard of this tune for so long, but this is the first time I saw the connection with Paginin's A minor theme...
@slikjC.2 жыл бұрын
Very nice video! Great explanation and interpretation of a piece I particularly love. Rachmaninoff's works always have a special effect on me, he is absolutely one of my favorite composers of all time.
@010bobby3 ай бұрын
Only geniuses can come up with these ideas.. one of my favorite classical tune..
@JohannnesBrahms2 жыл бұрын
If one were to describe the emotion that this music inspires, one could not be wrong in saying it makes one feel love. Keeping that in mind, those who play this music on the keyboard with the proper bent of thought would recognize how the thumbs penetrate the thenar webspace of the opposite hand repeatedly throughout the playing of this theme. One could imagine Rachmaninoff slyly making the "thumbs" act in place of another part of the anatomy while making love to the other hand. Not only does the music sound like love, the hands actually make love to one another while playing it.
@gablinkinge2 жыл бұрын
i loved this piece in somewhere in time! you play it well!
@ib2sweetАй бұрын
Fabulously sensitive and intelligent interpretations of this beautiful work!
@Eric-jo8uh7 ай бұрын
Enjoyed your enlightening explanation, so love this piece of music.Thank you very much.
@vicsheilahartley7404 Жыл бұрын
What a brilliant demonstration of this masterpiece and how the transition moves between Am and Db. I didn’t realise that the Am variation (which used to be the theme for an Arts programme on UK television) was connected to the romantic Db version until your explanation. Bravo and thank you! Vic Whitchurch England.
@kittiguitar60622 жыл бұрын
Absolutely fabulous! Enjoyed this so much!
@marylynn41662 жыл бұрын
So interesting. I love hearing you say, "I love that chord..."
@jackied8631 Жыл бұрын
This has been my favourite piece of music since my late teens (and I'm a very long way past that these days). I cannot describe the pleasure that piece of music gives me. Although I have sometimes listened to the original Paganini Theme, I could never figure out the connection to the 18th Variation. Thank you for solving that mystery. This was an enchanting video and your playing superb. I will be watching more of your videos.
@user-od7nb8ey1c5 ай бұрын
You’re amazing … I can listen learn and follow your passion …. You’re playing , explanation just moves me … I’m playing or rather I should say following along with you … thank you so much for all your enthusiasm… I love it 🥰 …
@jorgepascual5355 Жыл бұрын
This particular piece has always given me goosebumps. Such a beautiful master piece thank you for taking your time breaking down the make of it.
@margaretm.7079Ай бұрын
Thank you for a lovely explanation to my favorite classical.
@joshe40792 жыл бұрын
Beautiful! I love the Lutoslawski variations too but in a very (vary) different way from this one. 😍
@ginnylorenz52652 жыл бұрын
Thank you! I know so little, and yet enjoyed this so much. Fascinating and enchanting. So glad I found this channel.
@LearnLoveMusic2 жыл бұрын
Glad you enjoyed it!
@darkbluemars Жыл бұрын
I just stumbled upon your video when I was searching how Rachmaninoff got his melody from his piece. You teach with compassion and knowledge that I subscribed immediately. I'd look forward on watching your other videos.
@aleh_o5 ай бұрын
Thanks for the background of this piece I learned so much from your explanation and you play so beautifully 😊
@therenaissanceredneck88257 ай бұрын
One of my favorite pieces. I'm teaching myself to play it. You have totally mesmerized me with the story. WOW!!! IMO, you did not need one. Amazing!
@LearnLoveMusic7 ай бұрын
Thank you!
@user-od7nb8ey1c5 ай бұрын
I’ve always loved this piece … I’m so happy to be learning it now … it’s a process … but it just moves me 😊
@parlakng72352 жыл бұрын
Thank you very much for this lesson , I do appreciated and enjoy it , thank you again .
@meggiechu31072 жыл бұрын
You are a great teacher and pianist, thank you.
@LearnLoveMusic2 жыл бұрын
Thanks, Meggie. Keep watching!
@kevinmartinez68219 ай бұрын
Muchas gracias maestro!
@wpontius43556 ай бұрын
Love this music probably because of my love for the movie "Somewhere in Time" using it as it's theme, one of my most favorite movies. Thank you for showing the variations and nuances of it's composition. To find that beautiful theme by reversing the notes and dropping to a lower key for the heartbreaking feel, pure genius! Went and listened to Paganini's Caprices (by the one and only Itzhak Pearlman) and other Rachmaninoff's variations. Thank you so much for this!!
@philmaloney2644 ай бұрын
One of the most beautiful pieces to me. It brings so much emotion in me each time I hear it. I just go with it and experience!❤️❤️
@ML-rm3vk11 ай бұрын
Thank you sir this music put a smile on ones face but also a moist eye .peace
@mariatrotter68896 ай бұрын
Lovely commentary. I have loved this piece for years. I won a regional figure skating compeititon skating to this piece. I am now learning it on the piano. It's beautiful and sublime. Thank you. love your channel.
@DrXtoph2 жыл бұрын
Beautifully rendered and well-explained.
@mybachhertzbaud30742 ай бұрын
This is one of those great pieces that screams out "Give me strings"😁🎶🎹🎶Play On
@hoareg22 жыл бұрын
I keep watching your video for three times in a row. Very clean explanation and beautiful voice. Listen to the piano without the orchestra helps me discover new things that I never heard before. Excellent video, thanks a lots
@LearnLoveMusic2 жыл бұрын
Thank you! I hope you continue to come back to our channel.
@UpaIndien2 жыл бұрын
Je suis allé voir cette pièce en concert récemment, c'est une expérience à couper le souffle tellement c'est magnifique.
@Anon2828282 жыл бұрын
I love this piece - and I really like your analysis & demonstration. Thank you!
@LearnLoveMusic2 жыл бұрын
Glad you like it!
@KyaunneeRichardson Жыл бұрын
I LOVE the 18th variation. This is all because of the movie "Somewhere in Time" which my mother introduced to me. I became curious and decided to find the whole piece and listen to it. It's really a thrill to listen to and the way Rachmaninov truly shapes this whole piece is amazing. However, that last surprise kind of made me mad but I ended up laughing at the end. I think he did it on purpose as a small joke. It's pretty cool.
@walkerhjk Жыл бұрын
I first came across the Rhapsody (which together with Paganini's solo violin 'Caprice No. 24' are my No.1 favourites) in, I think it was 1953. I watched 'The Story of Three Loves' , a movie which uses the music as a theme. Some time later, I bought a record player, LPs were pretty new on the market, lasting up to around 25 to 30 minutes after the average three minutes of the old 78s. The very first LP I bought was of Solomon playing the Rhapsody. I no longer have that old LP but I have several others, Julius Katchen, Christina Ortiz and the latest one I acquired is a Naxos Historical CD (8.110602) of Rachmaninov himself making the very first recording, originally on 78s. Rachmaninoff, Stokowski, and the Philadelphia Orchestra made the first recording, on 24 December 1934, at RCA Victor's Trinity Church Studio in Camden, New Jersey. Rachmaninoff wrote the work at his summer home, the Villa Senar in Switzerland, according to the score, from 3 July to 18 August 1934. Rachmaninoff himself, a noted performer of his own works, played the piano part at the piece's premiere on 7 November 1934, at the Lyric Opera House in Baltimore, Maryland, with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Leopold Stokowski.
@Reilly1962 Жыл бұрын
Thank you for the interesting backstory.
@woutervandriel18612 жыл бұрын
Another amazing video. Love your expertise on Rachmaninoff, my favorite composer ever. Subscribed immediately!
@LearnLoveMusic2 жыл бұрын
Thank you very much!
@dhcherine2 жыл бұрын
This is amazing
@LearnLoveMusic2 жыл бұрын
Rachmaninoff's theme is always a joy to play.
@snorefest1621 Жыл бұрын
sublime seems like the most fitting word to describe this
@gillesaribiers86128 ай бұрын
Thank you very very much for your introduction of Rachmaninov's 18th variation. Every tiny bit of your presentation is breathtaking, it helps understanding the relation to Paganini while transmitting your love for the piece. Fabulous stuff !
@LearnLoveMusic7 ай бұрын
Glad you enjoyed it! Keep watching!
@TheRealOne22942 жыл бұрын
Your passion shows! It's lovely how you go in such detail about the music and the sounds and what you feel from it, I subbed!
@ganqqwerty2 жыл бұрын
Listened it live like 15 times and will listen more!
@riverwildcat12 жыл бұрын
Very fun and enjoyable expose of this great piece! Fine work.
@m-ksh Жыл бұрын
I've listened to both the main theme and variation 18 since they are literally everywhere, but I've never known too much about variation 18 to know that Rachmaninoff composes it and that it comprises part of the 24 Variations. So the first time I've ever actually listened to the full 24 Variations in full and in one sitting, it was an absolutely sublime and mind-blowing moment to me just listening to how the foreboding and dark Variation 17 just transitions to Variation 18, like a clear sky just following a heavy rain. What a genius Rachmaninoff was
@vivianepilou22112 жыл бұрын
Oh and thanks for the reference to Alexander Malofeev, such a talented player. I love his plays of Rachmaninov variations and Concerti
@richardsawyer97112 жыл бұрын
Agree completely!
@BrianOxleyTexan2 жыл бұрын
Thank you for discussing. I have a background in classical music, and appreciate listening to analysis and background.
@CDai-rw7sm2 жыл бұрын
OMG Dr. Hulbert I’m an instant fan after this video! I’m practicing Var 15 and am wondering if you could also help guide us on Var 15’s magical melody as well!
@LearnLoveMusic2 жыл бұрын
The 15th Variation is exciting and you need technical prowess to play it well. The music scampers! Thanks for your comment.
@kencrotty39842 жыл бұрын
Rachmaninoff extracted this Jewel from the Living Soul of the Universe: quintessential auditory pulchritude!
@LearnLoveMusic2 жыл бұрын
My thoughts exactly (even though I had to look up pulchritude!) I've just add that to my vocabulary.
@cristiant.86542 жыл бұрын
Pure gold, you are a true inspiration, thank you SIR !!!!!!!
@LearnLoveMusic2 жыл бұрын
You are very welcome. Keep watching!
@christopherdandeker61222 жыл бұрын
I think your pieces are enthralling - thank you
@stoneesoteric8 ай бұрын
this music- omg brings tears to my eyes and chills to my spine every single time.
@haarry22062 жыл бұрын
Love these analysis videos duane!
@LearnLoveMusic2 жыл бұрын
Thank you so much.
@ganqqwerty2 жыл бұрын
Thanks for playing it without orchestra, it’s super interesting!
@eamonryan21988 ай бұрын
That was a first class commentary on variation 18.
@LearnLoveMusic7 ай бұрын
Thanks so much!
@patmajor48402 жыл бұрын
Thank you so much
@LearnLoveMusic2 жыл бұрын
You are welcome. Keep watching!
@eamonryan21988 ай бұрын
My favourite music, from when I was fourteen, sixty years ago.
@urbinblytte4292 жыл бұрын
i'm learning and loving--thank you for sharing your knowledge and love of music.
@enos_picazzio Жыл бұрын
Excellent class for those who like classical music. Rachmaninov leaves me in a state of strong emotion. Ever.
@LearnLoveMusic Жыл бұрын
And this is Rachmaninoff's birthday month. 150 years old!
@richardsawyer97112 жыл бұрын
Malofeev also has a KZbin of the entire piece with orchestra. If you watch it closely at the end Alexander gives a little smile to show how much he enjoyed it all!
@andreasvanwijk50562 жыл бұрын
Greatly enjoy your videos. Thank you
@charleygarth2 жыл бұрын
Wish you were doing this when i was a kid. My life would have changed !
@LearnLoveMusic2 жыл бұрын
It's never too late to start (or restart). Keep watching!
@charleygarth2 жыл бұрын
As you said…better late than never…I recently acquired a quality keyboard…with aliquot etc………lovely yet compact and I can use headphones so others will not have to participate in my personal struggles….gave taken to writing as well……as Glenn Gould also knew, there is music in words. A world of joy and possibilities!
@GerardoJimenez-rt5dc2 жыл бұрын
You are my hero, Maestro 🎶🎵🙏
@LearnLoveMusic2 жыл бұрын
Thank you!
@alexsimper41534 ай бұрын
the climax chord at the beginning is just a simple Dbm7 that sounds really dissonant on context, really is genius
@fancypharmacist4 ай бұрын
Enjoyable!
@1sthird Жыл бұрын
Beautiful -- reminds me of the movie Somewhere in Time with Christopher Reeves ... Filmed somewhere near Mackinaw Island, Michigan.
@annatjiejansenvanvuuren5534 Жыл бұрын
Beautiful! Thank you for the lovely information.
@LearnLoveMusic Жыл бұрын
Glad it was helpful!
@SuperTamaga2 жыл бұрын
Thanks Love your videos
@LearnLoveMusic2 жыл бұрын
Thanks for watching!
@cherylcalac84852 жыл бұрын
New subscriber - love your videos, very informative!
@philipowen67302 жыл бұрын
Simply thank you.
@LearnLoveMusic2 жыл бұрын
You're welcome!
@bernabeangeler29182 жыл бұрын
Wow i love this channel
@LearnLoveMusic2 жыл бұрын
Thank you! Keep watching!
@gwynnus2 жыл бұрын
Thank you - I really enjoyed listening to your explanation
@LearnLoveMusic2 жыл бұрын
Glad you enjoyed it!
@johannesjakobsen51712 жыл бұрын
Thank you for the most sublime video
@010bobby3 ай бұрын
This reminds me of an unfulfilled promise that just hang in the air…
@piaangeles14742 жыл бұрын
Wonderful insight and wonderful playing
@LearnLoveMusic2 жыл бұрын
Thanks, it's great music, too!
@tungmiirenefu18692 жыл бұрын
Thanks for helping me understand and appreciate more this piece of music that is so poignantly beautiful. You explain it so intelligently. The piece is an expression of my deepest feelings. You are a great teacher.
@LearnLoveMusic2 жыл бұрын
Glad it was helpful! Keep watching!
@guilhermeassef80282 жыл бұрын
thanks for posting it on my birthday one of my favorite piece
@LearnLoveMusic2 жыл бұрын
Happy birthday!
@christianjimenez2551Ай бұрын
Chopin didn't do a set of variations based on this them. He did it based on another one, Souvenir de Paganini :)
@paulshi28212 жыл бұрын
Awesome video as always 😀
@R08Tam2 жыл бұрын
Somebody once said that this is the moment in Rachmaninov's music when the sun comes out
@LearnLoveMusic2 жыл бұрын
And what a glorious sun it is!
@sradefarras2 жыл бұрын
Sublime!!!
@dmitryandrianov56892 жыл бұрын
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
@herondelatorre402310 ай бұрын
Every time I hear this 18th variation, I think of the former Imperial Russia during the life and reign of the last Tsar/Emperor Nicholas II, his wife Empress Alexandra, their son Grand Duke/Tsarevich Alexis, and their four daughters Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia. God Bless their memory !!!!!!
@MrJakejonesy2 жыл бұрын
Wonderful video 👌🏻👌🏻
@nohhknowwyeww2 жыл бұрын
4:03 from your mentions I go to, R. withdrew in this variation. Instead of mimicking the climb, as a ballerina might fold and withdraw with fluttering steps...he inverts [did you say inverts] then transposes at the end. So from your pose that it is descending v. ascending, I gather two variations combine to make this segment-inversion-and end note transposition.-Ernie Moore Jr.
@LearnLoveMusic2 жыл бұрын
Most of the variations have a rising pattern in an A minor theme. The difference in the D flat variation is that the line descends instead. So clever of Rachmaninoff to come up with that musical idea.
@arctanx58783 ай бұрын
4:10 The 15th variation also has this theme
@nohhknowwyeww2 жыл бұрын
1:03 Thank you for the 1st, last name and dates (b,d).-Ernie Moore Jr.
@caleblauber14412 жыл бұрын
Beautiful
@LearnLoveMusic2 жыл бұрын
Thank you!
@gracemarion4992 жыл бұрын
He's wonderful
@davidlucey1311 Жыл бұрын
The very ending five or six notes always makes me think of “shave and a haircut two bits“.
@LearnLoveMusic Жыл бұрын
For Rachmaninoff being such a serious composer, he seems to have a sense of humor with those last notes. He'd probably chuckle to read your comment.