Rachmaninoff: The Piano Concertos & Paganini Rhapsody

Featuring

Gustavo Dudamel
Yuja Wang
Los Angeles Philharmonic
Sergei Rachmaninoff

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Recording & Production

This album's recordings were drawn from live performances in February 2023, where Yuja Wang played all five pieces with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic over two weekends.

Compositional Technique

The Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, while a set of 24 continuous variations, also encapsulates the three-movement (fast-slow-fast) structure of concertos and includes the ominous Dies irae chant.

Composer Biography

Sergei Rachmaninoff, a highly esteemed composer, graduated from the Moscow Conservatory just after his 18th birthday with the school's Great Gold Medal for his one-act opera Aleko.

Cultural Impact

The second theme of the third movement of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 provided the tune for "Full Moon and Empty Arms," a major hit in 1945 for Frank Sinatra.

Composition History

Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 1, modeled on the Grieg Piano Concerto, was substantially revised in 1917, with the composer stating it was "really good now" and played "so much more easily."

Composer Biography

Deeply distressed by the chaos of the Revolution, Rachmaninoff left Russia at the end of 1917 and supported his family mainly by incessant touring, which left little time for composition.

Compositional Technique

Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 4, completed in 1926, is leaner and more concentrated, with strong suggestions of George Gershwin and Paul Whiteman jazz in its second movement.