Rachmaninoff - Prelude in B-flat major, Op.23 No.2, taught by guest artist, Dr. Cahill Smith

[@anthonyc6017]

Dr. Cahill plays so beautifully. Thank you Josh for bringing him in

[@koseogluem]

Thank you both Dr. Wright again for having Dr. Smith for another Rachmaninoff prelude! I just started working on this prelude after discovering one of the most beautiful left hand passage of B section 😊

[@CahillSmith]

It is a stunning LH vocal line, indeed! Good luck.

[@ClassicalNewbee]

Thank you, Dr. Josh & Dr. Cahill Smith! 😊

[@radmilamikulic1290]

Vielen lieben Dank für ihre Mühe!!!

[@JaneFlemingPiano]

A *NATURAL* in bar 28! The reason for the "unneeded" natural sign is, to my mind, emphasis that in spite of the A# in the right hand the one in the left should be natural. Since you asked for opinions ;) Beautiful piece... very nice job!

[@CahillSmith]

Thanks for nerding out with me :) Totally agree - this is great support for A-natural. It is such an odd passage harmonically... connecting to the previous bar, it might have been written in E-flat Minor, necessitating a handful of double flats, which would look horrible. His efforts to flip back and forth around the circle of fifths make it more legible. The fact that every other note in the measure fits diatonically in B Major (including 5 other A-sharps!) always makes me wonder if it might have been a copyist's error, etc. I would love to examine the autograph manuscript one day!

[@JaneFlemingPiano]

@@CahillSmith Please share with the world what you find if you're ever able to examine the autograph. Ruth Laredo, in the preface to her 1985 version for Peters, writes: ".. the manuscripts of the Preludes Opus 23 and Opus 32 are listed as items in the State Central Glinka Museum of Musical Culture in Moscow.... According to the curator... the Rachmaninoff Preludes were either 'missing' or 'unavailable'.... Therefore, I had to turn to other sources. Mrs. Natalia Rachmaninoff had made a generous gift of her husband's original scores to the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. I was permitted to study the originals and to obtain photocopies..." Oh... Ruth also uses A-natural, as do Henle and the Boosey & Hawkes editions. So I'm sticking with the herd! Cheers!

[@nshimiyimanatheophile4413]

Super

[@thisismoyukhsworld2022]

This Prelude is as difficult as any Etude Tableau.

[@CahillSmith]

many of the preludes are technically more difficult than the etudes... 23/9 in E-flat Minor still seems impossible to me!