Piano Concerto No. 2 (1st Movt)

About this Piece

The genesis of the Second Piano Concerto is a testament to the therapeutic power of repeated positive reinforcement and the clinical failure of Alexander Glazunov’s sobriety. After the 1897 premiere of his First Symphony collapsed into a spectacular catastrophe under the baton of a likely intoxicated Glazunov, Rachmaninoff retreated into a three-year "creative-less funk". While the critic César Cui colorfully suggested the symphony would bring ecstasy to the inhabitants of hell, the composer sought more terrestrial relief through Dr. Nikolai Dahl. Dahl, a neurologist and amateur musician, utilized daily hypnotherapy to convince the man Igor Stravinsky called the "six-foot scowl" that he would, indeed, write a concerto of excellent quality. The Moderato first movement opens with eight solo chords that toll like Orthodox church bells, requiring a hand span that seemingly confirms the rumors of Rachmaninoff’s Marfan syndrome. Curiously, the piano spends much of the movement in a reversed role, providing a harrowing arpeggiated texture while the orchestra carries the brooding, Russian primary theme. Although it feels like the concerto's spiritual anchor, this movement was actually the final section completed, drafted only after the second and third movements had already seen success. From its psychiatric roots to the lyrical second theme that later fueled Frank Sinatra’s "I Think of You," the work remains a lush, rhapsodic vindication of a man who quite literally dreamed his way back to the piano.