Rachmaninoff: The Piano Concertos & Paganini Rhapsody

There are few finer places in which to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s birth than Los Angeles, the city in which the composer himself once lived. Over two consecutive weekends in February 2023, Yuja Wang recorded all four of his piano concertos, plus the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, with the LA Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel, before sell-out audiences at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. “Some pianists perform the complete sonatas, but to have recorded the complete concertos—that’s something cool,” Wang tells Apple Music Classical. It’s also an impressive feat, considering the emotional and technical demands of these works, all of which Wang takes in her stride (she’s performed the fiendish “Rach 3” more than 70 times.) “Every concerto has a colour, each has a vibe of its own,” she says. “When you play them in one go, you realise just how rich and deep this repertoire is; each concerto creates a different world—you never get tired.” Rachmaninoff himself performed these showpieces and it’s his grasp of the piano’s capabilities that shines through each concerto. “What I love about his playing is that it’s so classic and transparent,” says Wang. “The phrasing is very refined and sincere, and that’s what I’m trying to bring out: not the clichéd, golden Hollywood kind of playing but the classiness, the nobleness of Rachmaninoff.” Read on, as Yuja Wang takes us on a personal tour of Rachmaninoff’s four piano concertos and the Paganini Rhapsody. Piano Concerto No. 2 “This is the most popular of the Rachmaninoff concertos and it’s the only one that starts with the piano. In the others, the orchestra invites me in, but here I’m completely alone, so it’s a great way to draw audiences into the recording. “The melodies are so heart-wrenching, yet his phrasing and his dynamics are extremely classical. Once you delve into the key changes and the structure, you see how inventive Rachmaninoff is: Hear how the strings at the opening of the second movement range across keys, moving from C Minor to E Major, for example. “The concerto is the first work he wrote following the failure of the First Symphony, and Nikolai Dahl, the psychiatrist who helped Rachmaninoff through his depression, was also a viola player. That’s why the second theme of the third movement is written for viola—and it’s so beautiful.” Piano Concerto No. 1 “Completed when he was 18 and a student at Moscow Conservatoire, the First Concerto is filled with chromaticism. The opening of the ‘Vivace’ first movement is very episodic, it’s like: ‘OK, here we have this little agitato mood, now here’s a little lyrical mood,’ and that makes it extremely challenging to play. “The ‘Andante’ second movement is wonderfully reflective and full of fairyland colour as it develops, while the third movement is rhythmically brilliant. Rachmaninoff later revised the Concerto, changing its textures and rethinking its form, and it’s this later 1917 version I play here.” Piano Concerto No. 4 “Rachmaninoff revised this piece, too—the one you hear here is the last version he wrote—but even though he simplified the textures it’s still very hard to play. It makes real demands on your memory because the ideas are so integrated and everything’s offbeat. “You can hear the influence of George Gershwin: it’s almost like playing jazz. One standout theme for me is the opening of the second movement. It has a lilting kind of rhythm, a gospel-choir feel to it. It’s just so simple but then he takes in all these key changes and finds different ways to harmonise it. In the end you’re thinking, ‘Where are you going, Rachmaninoff?’” Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini “This piece is short, exciting—and audiences love it. I like the way the medieval Dies Irae plainchant theme shows up: first very quietly on the piano (in Variation 7), and then marching (in Variation 10) before it goes off-beat and jazzy. And listen to the way the harmony changes before it opens up into the famous 18th Variation, in which the main theme is turned upside down. The last Variation, No. 24, has so much humour with its playful leaps in the piano. I think Rachmaninoff must have been a great improviser to have come up with this; it has such spontaneity.” Piano Concerto No. 3 “There is real enjoyment—physical, emotional and psychological—to be had from performing this work. The piece is so well written, especially the balance between piano and orchestra (for me, No. 2 has too much orchestra; it’s like a symphony with piano accompaniment). In the Third Concerto the piano is given prominence, but you also hear it integrated with the orchestra. “Listen to the second movement, for example, where every time the soloist comes in, it disrupts the peaceful atmosphere that the orchestra has created, and each time it falls into a new key. It’s waves and waves of different emotional states, almost neurotic, and in the last movement you get the playful side of Rachmaninoff again; it’s such an exciting finale.”