Rachmaninoff Third Piano Concerto (part 1)

I have been practising Rach 3 for some time now... I am playing the piece on Feb the 20th, in a concert hall in Athens. Not with an orchestra (alas!) but with a second piano. It's actually a quite clever arrangement, I think: in the first part of the concert, I am playing the aforementioned work while in the second part, the pianist who accompanies me will play his piano concerto (Chopin 2) and I will be his "orchestra". We began rehearsals some months ago, and it seems to me that the "project" (quite unusual, by Greek standards at least!) is going fairly well.

I played Rach Three about 10 years ago (in Athens and in London), but things are not that easy any more, in terms of practising! (full time work, three children...). Anyhow, I am doing my best to play this wonderful concert as well as I can. 

It is, in my view, Rachmaninoff's best piano concerto, greater than the Second in terms of maturity and musicality. It is also technically the hardest. For me, the main challenge is to be able to play it through to the end without getting really exhausted. I still have about 15 days to go, so I am not that stressed yet!! 

There are so many things I 'd like to write about this concerto, so let's call this post "part 1", and I will continue...

Best Moment from the "Thirty Two Short Films on Glenn Gould"

I always found this film by Francois Girard so strange and at the same time so fascinating! These are 32 snap-shots in the life and music of Glenn Gould. Some of them I fail completely to understand; others I find moving; others I find utterly successful in terms of depicting the "reality" of this great pianist. 

By far the best "moment" in this film is , in my view, the extract here below. In just four minutes Girard manages to convey so many elements of Gould's life: his seclusive life-style, his wit, the obsession with his health, his eccentricity, and, above all, the way he chose to communicate with the other people: not simply through his music but through his records. The relationship between him and the cleaner is transformed to another dimension by the end of the piece (it's Beethoven by the way) and she is gradually (and so charmingly!) "won" by his music, but the point that Girard wants to make is that the means and vehicle of this transformation is a record, not any kind of direct communication. This was Gould! 

Thoughts after a concert... Bach's Concerto After Marcello

Just came home from a concert where I played Bach  (Concerto after Marcello in D Minor) and Brahms (Intermezzo op.117 no 1). Brahms was more or less ok, while with Bach I felt sort of uncomfortable, especially in the first movement. I've played this piece many times in the past but only a few times did I feel that the result was satisfactory. 

What I try to do (and it's not easy!) is not to imitate Glenn Gould's performance. (from his "Italian Bach"- one of his best records, in my view). He does incredible things in this recording, yet the challenge of the performer is to develop a sense of detachment from his sound, and try to find new things and new perspectives. And yet I must admit that I am so influenced by him and so persuasive do I find his reading of Concerto after Marcello that all too often I unconsciously [and hopelessly] try to do what he does. 
Yet there is another, more subtle danger for a pianist: to try and do the opposite of what another (usually great) pianist is doing. In an effort to distance from someone else's playing, one can play things differenetly just for the sake of doing that. So, for instance, Gould plays it staccato here - I'll play legato; Richter brings out an inner melodic line- I'll try to cover it a bit. And so on... 
What's the conclusion? It's quite simple (to say it at least!): Find your self, look for your individual uniqueness, be genuine.