Rachmaninoff and Siloti( his early mentor)-looks like twin brothers to me.
I have posted Rachmaninoff Concertos #2 and #3 a few months ago. Today, I like to share with you his #1 that he composed when he was only 18 years old. There are several You-Tube recordings in the Web, But I like this recording by pianist Mimi Minagawa. Minigawa is a young American pianist born in Houston, Texas, USA. Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6qjffQq-tw
Mimi was a full music scholarship at the University of Michigan. She participated at the Cincinnati World Piano Competition and won second place at the Lima Symphony Young Artists Competition, College Division. She was also a winner of the School of Music, Theatre.& Dance Concerto Competition.
Her other awards are: honorable mention at the MTNA Competition in East Central; Jacob Flier Piano Competition Winner Recital; winner of Jacob Flier International Piano Competition; full scholarship recipient at Rice University Preparatory Program; scholarship recipient at Piano Summer at New Paltz; scholarship recipient at St. Pius X High School; full scholarship recipient at the Hotchkiss School Summer; Portals Chamber Music Program; and first prize at the Hong Kong Youth and Children Piano Competition.
Here's some information on Rachmaninoff from Wikipedia:
Sergei Rachmaninoff composed his Piano Concerto No. 1 in F♯ minor, Op. 1, in 1891, at age 18. He dedicated the work to Alexander Siloti. He revised the work thoroughly in 1917.
Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff was a Russian pianist, composer, and conductor of the late Romantic period, some of whose works are among the most popular in the romantic repertoire.
Born into a musical family, Rachmaninoff took up the piano at age four. He graduated from the Moscow Conservatory in 1892 and had composed several piano and orchestral pieces by this time. In 1897, following the critical reaction to his Symphony No. 1, Rachmaninoff entered a four-year depression and composed little until successful therapy allowed him to complete his enthusiastically received Piano Concerto No. 2 in 1901.
After the Russian Revolution, Rachmaninoff and his family left Russia and resided in the United States, first in New York City. Demanding piano concert tour schedules caused his output as composer to slow tremendously; between 1918 and 1943, he completed just six compositions, including Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Symphony No. 3, and Symphonic Dances. In 1942, Rachmaninoff moved to Beverly Hills, California. One month before his death from advanced melanoma, Rachmaninoff acquired American citizenship.
The work is in three movements:
1.Vivace (F♯ minor)
This contrast with the later works can be heard from the opening bars, where a brass fanfare precedes a flourish of double octaves and chords on the piano — a musical gesture similar to the Schumann and Grieg piano concertos. This flourish occurs later in the movement, as well, an important factor in the symmetry of the movement. The main theme (like the other themes in this work common to both versions) is short by Rachmaninoff's standards but already shows the sequential devices and arch-like design inherent in his later works.
2.Andante cantabile (D major)
This reflective nocturne is only 74 bars long. The texture is less cumbersome in the revised version; the harmonies remain the same but are enlivened by occasional chromatic notes.
3. Allegro scherzando (F♯ minor → F♯ major) [1917 version: allegro vivace]
Rachmaninoff replaced an initially drab opening with a fortissimo passage alternating between time signatures of 9 8 and 12. This movement is in sonata-rondo form, in which the development is a lengthy section in E flat major. A maestoso reemergence of the concerto's main theme was eliminated. In the original version he had attempted to use this theme in an upward sequential treatment similar to what he would do later in the Second and Third Concertos. The problem here was that the theme did not lend itself so easily to this treatment, thus sounding contrived. It also came too late in the movement to have the right expansive effort prevalent in the other concertos.
