Paganini-Rhapsodie Op. 43, Sergei Rachmaninow. Piano

SERGEI RACHMANINOFF
Rapsodie sur un thème de Paganini op. 43

Norbert Gertsch (Editor)
Heiko Stralendorff (Piano reduction)

Rachmaninoff's last and most important composition for piano and orchestra
 Paganini's Caprice is considered the most worked-on theme in music history, which Rachmaninoff illuminates in a very individual form with humor, passion and virtuoso fireworks.
 Fingering by Marc-André Hamelin
 Orchestra Material at Breitkopf & Härtel
 New publication October 2023

HN 1506
ISMN 979-0-2018-1506-0
Level of difficulty: difficult
Piano reduction, Urtext Edition, paperbound
Two copies needed for performance
Orchestral material from Breitkopf & Härtel
Pages 82 (V+77), Size 23,5 x 31,0 cm
Weight 348 g

Sergei Rachmaninoffs Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini was his last and at the same time most significant work for piano and orchestra. As a cycle of variations on Paganinis 24th Caprice from op. 1, it stands in the tradition of the great works on this famous theme by Franz Liszt and Johannes Brahms. Its something for the audiences, wrote the reviewer of the New Yorker about one of the first performances of this Rhapsody with the composer at the piano, the succession of brilliances for the piano, dramatic references to the Dies Irae, wide-open Schmalz for divided strings, and old-fashioned bravura. Alongside the Second and Third Piano Concertos, this brilliant work today numbers among Rachmaninoffs most frequently performed compositions. For this first Urtext edition of the Rhapsody, the editor was able to consult both the autograph held by the Library of Congress and the first edition, the publication of which was supervised by the composer. In addition to the solo part, the piano reduction offers a very playable arrangement of the orchestral setting. Parallel with the present edition, the score and orchestral parts have been published in cooperation with Breitkopf & Härtel.