Rachmaninoff: aspects of the pianistic realisation of the concept

This article is devoted to the fundamental problem of constructing a theory of performing interpretation based on the notion of concept put forward by S. V. Rachmaninoff. In his two interview articles "My Prelude cis-moll" and "Ten Characteristic Signs of Excellent Piano Playing", written in the genre of a master-class by a pianist-teacher, Rachmaninoff places the notion of the concept at the head of interpretation and interprets it as an immanent hidden programme that enables the performer to grasp the system of relations in the text of a work, its internal and external connections. A comparison of the two Preludes, op. 3 No. 2 in cis-moll and op. 23 No. 7 in с-moll, allows us to penetrate into Rachmaninoff’s creative laboratory and trace the interdependence of concepts and the means of their pianistic realisation. The Preludes were composed in parallel with Rachmaninoff’s Concerts: the First (op. 1, 1891, first edition) and the Second (op. 18, 2001). The decade separating these concertos was marked by Rachmaninoff’s life crises and triumphs, which brought his work as a composer and pianist to a new level of mastery.