Rachmaninoff Plays Rachmaninoff - Morceaux de fantaisie, Op. 3

Last of the 3-video 'Inspired by Slash' series, dedicated to my dear friend ASlashOfBlue.
I decided to put into a single video all 5 pieces of Morceaux de fantaisie, Op. 3, composed between 1919-1929. Played by the maestro and recorded for AMPICO reproducing pianos (popular in the early part of the 20th century), this recording was produced using a specially-adapted Estonia 9-ft concert grand and recorded in 1978-9.
I have included 'the making of piano rolls' for educational purposes and to showcase human ingenuity and innovation. Please be advised that the clip of the player pianos was not in sync (for track 1) or was not of the actual composition (track 2).
My gratitude goes to source channels for clips used in this video. Regrettably, I will not be able to make any comment with regards to technicality of the player piano or piano roll production.
**
No copyright infringement intended on videos, music, and photos.
Made for no profit.

[@LeahOxendine]

The moment when people are so stupid in saying that this is "fake", when there is literally a CD of him playing his works, and I happen to own it. Look it up people, before you get your panties in a knot over this being "illegitimate".

[@baruchben-david4196]

I've got some CD's of Rachmaninov. He died before CD's were invented, so I'm assuming these were recorded from tapes.

[@providief]

@@baruchben-david4196 Could be piano-roll

[@providief]

Ah there is literally a piano roll in the video! Sorry. So this would explain why the sound is so good.

[@therealtruetwelfth798]

Rachmaninov did make acoustic recordings, and these aren’t them

[@이샘-e4e]

1. Elegie 0:02 2. Prelude 4:07 3. Melodie 7:53 4. Polichinelle 11:44 5. Serenade 15:10

[@wtmgad7630uqxhk]

書いてくれて、どうもありがとう m(_ _)m😃🌺🌺🌺

[@smb123211]

My dad was home from the war for a break and saw Rachmaninoff's final concert in Knoxville (servicemen got in free). He always talked about tRach in larger than life terms. Although he was nowhere near the height of his powers the artistry was still there. People do not always note the polyphony in his music and his playing brought out all those hidden inner melodies he loved so much. Wish the recording could have been "cleaned up" but it is a rare find.

[@ellao.2433]

I don't know what the previous comment means, but I think it is code for...Thank God for KZbin and for the person who posted...and Thank God for giving us Sergei Rachmaninoff

[@amerigasanmichele]

Ella O. Yes!

[@therealtruetwelfth798]

These pieces were composed in 1892, not 1919-1929 as the description says.

[@Ksamp313]

Hate to be pedantic, but I will be anyway :) These were recorded on piano roll in 1919-1929. The pieces were composed while Rachmaninoff was still a student, around 1893 or so.

[@GGbreizh]

Giving insightful informations about a piece or its recording is not being pedantic!

[@daph0307]

1892*

[@KrisKeyes]

8:05 Haha. I'm pretty sure that's not how piano rolls were made in Rachmaninov's day.

[@armandomorenofierros7127]

Un gran joya éste video. Sorprendente la interpretación del Maestro Rachmaninoff de su propia música. Y poder escucharlo en una pianola de un Gran piano, debe ser fantástico. Súper!

[@jolynneb]

Thank you for compiling this and posting it! I never truly comprehend his solo piano pieces until I hear him play them. Somehow I never read them the way he does. Varying tempos aside, these recordings feel right. He has that perfect blend of inner child and inner Cossack that makes me smile and wish my hands were bigger. :)

[@wtmgad7630uqxhk]

私的に解説✨ この曲は、ラフマニノフがいた頃、国と国が争っていて、低いグレーの空がいつもあり、白い雲はどんよりしている。そして皆は悲しそうにうつむいて足早に歩いている。将来どうなるか不安で不安で皆が憂いていて、心ある人は戦争から逃げるため亡命したり、国をすて去っていく、といった当時の、大国だったロシアの大きな動きを壮大、かつ繊細、かつ美しく表現しきった作品。というふうに解釈した。ちなみにこの方は自分がひくのもうまかったです。

[@sH-cr5zc]

現在も、全く同じ状況なのでしょうね。ウクライナだけでなく、ロシア国民も気の毒です。言論の自由が無いために、正しいことを言えば生命と引き換えになるのですから。 この曲を聴いていると、私は本当に悲しい気持ちになります。でも、あまりにも美しい曲なので、聴くのを止めることは出来ません。

[@tales3753]

The performance of C Sharp Minor, Chills my spine.

[@ArtyFactual_Intelligence]

...whereas the performance by Harpo Marx breaks the spine of the piano......

[@gerardbedecarter]

Thanks for uploading these recordings of historical reproducing piano rolls.

[@michaelhertzenov8326]

"Op. 3, composed between 1919-1929"?!!? - Op. 3 - composed on the downslope of life? - COMPOSED IN 1892!

[@marinawehrli7998]

Beautiful... super music, super Composer Genie Rachmaninoff PIANOMARINA.CH Russian piano music

[@Ksamp313]

Also, the Melodie and Serenade are revised versions (by Rachmaninoff) of the original pieces.

[@gwilymprice4442]

The Mélodie is the original, and in my opinion superior version. The Serenade is a sort of hybrid between the original and the 1940 version.

[@underzog]

The Melody is in the original/unrevised version.

[@seryoperaclassica1332]

bellissima

[@KrisKeyes]

Rachmaninoff really fluctuated in his tempo, especially in the Polichinelle. Being the composer, he probably had a good reason for doing that, but if anyone else did that, I would not listen to it twice.

[@blobotomy]

+Kris Keyes It's call artistic interpretation. Myself I don't like to listen to robots.

[@OmarxAmador]

+Kris Keyes Explain please. I, personally, don't usually like the composers performances of their own work.

[@KrisKeyes]

I tend to prefer a more strict rhythm, but with just enough variation to give the piece some life. I was surprised that the composer played the piece (i.e. Polichinelle) in such a way that belied his own notation. I know this because I have seen the score, and have attempted in the past to play it.

[@OmarxAmador]

+Kris Keyes that makes sense

[@OmarxAmador]

Also, do you have any uploaded videos of your performances? if so, I'd like to give it a listen.

[@Thalexe]

Beğendim

[@antoniavignera2339]

Grazie mille !

[@夏目雅子-y1e]

夏はなるべくおひさまの香りを大切にしたいな！健康的で幸せ感たっぷり！❤❤

[@susantachowdhury2194]

HEAVENLY EXPERIENCE. THANKS FOR UPLOADING

[@eliasioannou9272]

Anyone knows the exact version of the Serenade played here?

[@Mapesbury100]

Amazing!

[@waseliks748]

Un replicatable

[@mikestewart6517]

Thank you so much for an echo of the past that still resonates true.

[@mariacortes7906]

Único .

[@muammererboy4889]

I think you are quite wrong with the dates you give about the composition of these fantasy pieces. And definitely in late 70ies Rachmaninoff was already dead and buried for at least 35 years. Please correct

[@MrOzzy281]

That's quite clever. 04:08

[@underzog]

Rachmaninoff was Ayn Rand'sfavorite composer.

[@ArtyFactual_Intelligence]

People like Rachmaninov made America Great. You know. the type........ Foreigners. Immigrants. Those who believed the world was their oyster. Those who shared their culture with others on a global scale. Them.

[@ArtyFactual_Intelligence]

@@underzog And Hitler liked Bruckner and Beethoven. What's your point?

[@MrOzzy281]

@@ArtyFactual_Intelligence White settlers? The pioneers who built the greatest country on earth! I quite agree!

[@MrOzzy281]

@@ArtyFactual_Intelligence Everyone you disagree with is Hitler, very educated argument! How many arts degrees do you have?

[@SuperMelvyn]

First, it is wonderful that these piano rolls were made, giving a far superior impression of the pianist than the contemporary discs. BUT I have to say the famous C sharp minor prelude represents for me the kind of classical music that gives "classical" music a bad name - too much empty virtuosity and not enough real substance. I think such things impressed an earlier society but post-60s we look for something authentic, "true", worth saying. We find it in Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Britten, Shostakovich but there is a lot of empty bravura in the 19thC and Rachmaninov is part of it. Which is not to say there are not lovely works in his output, but the loveliness it too often marred by excess, self-indulgence and showing off!

[@keenanonie]

It's really not fair to dismiss Rachmaninoff on the basis of the Prelude in C-sharp Minor, a piece of attractive juvenilia that the composer himself downplayed over and over in his interviews. I think it's important to acknowledge the inherent subjectivity in statements such as yours, since "truth" is every bit as contentious a notion in art as it is in life. Virtuosity is an element not only of Rachmaninoff's music but also of Bach's and Beethoven's, and if performers of his music tend to emphasize this element over others that might more easily be associated with artistic truth, then that's not his fault. In any event, though virtuosity has bothered musical connoisseurs for millennia , it functions as a metaphor of transcendence that continues to be tremendously inspiring to many people and was, of course, a prominent feature of musical romanticism, with its philosophical underpinnings in German idealism.

[@shermansmart4369]

Melvyn Elphee The C# minor prelude is an early work yet brought the composer early fame. He became to loath it because, even though he had composed many much more profound piano pieces, his audiences would not leave him alone until he played it as an encore! However, when he performed it and recorded it, he was honest in its performance. Rather simple music, yes, but not bad for a teenager!

[@ibuprofen303]

@Shane Brandes I agree with you. The Prelude is an excellent piece of music. These guys are just trying to show off how "clever" they are. Really annoys me when that happens. Pretentious idiots.

[@thomasallenmusic]

@@keenanonie Way to go, Keenan :) 👏

[@davidk7529]

Your first mistake was in calling it “classical” music. That might be the popular broad category, but Rachmaninoff lived long after the Classical period. The reference you made to Bach and other Classical period composers as being superior in the ways you described is ironic as well. Bach was a career composer, and even though he had his own flair, he did follow the conventions of his time in terms of form, and was paid for doing well in that respect. Mozart was a mix of creative genius and more of that same conventional pattern. If Romantic period composers like Liszt and (later) Rachmaninoff incorporated some virtuoso vibe into their works, it was because they enjoyed playing that way at that point in their lives, and it is an invaluable part of their musical journey. If you listen to other pianists’ interpretations of that same piece, you might find a flow that you like. If not, just leave it on the table and move on to the pieces that you prefer. I personally enjoy the overall flow of the “show-off” parts that take on a special flavor with all the extra notes when played smoothly. Even the “lesser” compositions have their own value, which can be felt with continued listening and a bit of contemplation. It’s better to just keep listening, rather than saying a piece is inferior to others or that some other composers got it right and this one is somehow out of place. Art just isn’t that rigid.