Talk:Piano Sonata No. 1 (Rachmaninoff)

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I am an amateur classical pianist, 51 years old. I have a particular love for Rachmaninoff's Piano Sonata #1. I am no music critic and cannot adequately describe what this music means to me. If I could play it for you the music would do all the talking. The Sonata is elemental, awesome in scope, explosive in its climaxes, and, in places, hauntingly beautiful, like a desert landscape at sunrise on some distant world.

If Rachmaninoff had never written any other works this one work alone would be sufficient to make him my favorite composer. But, like many works that critics do not fully appreciate, there's a feeling of power and connection I get when I play this, that I don't get when I listen to my recording of the work by the fine pianist Santiago Rodriguez. Mr. Rodriguez understands the work - I wonder if he loves it as I do. I suspect that only a person who can perform this work would fully appreciate it how it makes the piano resonate. Anyway, if you are a classical pianist, and you are still searching for your life's work, give this one a try. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.172.69.22 (talk) 01:54, 26 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks IP, some say that good music is the closest thing on Earth to God. If you're still around wiki consider making a recording for the page? ALTON .ıl 00:59, 6 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Too much emphasis on what others thought?[edit]

This article seems to present the opinion of various people as if it's definitive. Argumentum ad populum is a fallacy and Rachmaninov is the best example of a composer whose work was unfairly derided by critics, whether they were friends or not. Another thing I'm wondering about is whether or not there are any manuscripts that have prior versions (prior to the massive cuts). Some, such as myself, greatly prefer earlier versions of certain Rachmaninov pieces, such as the second sonata and fourth concerto. It would be a massive boon to the classical music world to find earlier versions of this sonata, particularly one that is 45 minutes in length. This article talks about the cutting process like three different times but no mention is made of the very mixed opinions about the cuts he made to other works, due to input and pressure from critics. I happen to, for instance, be among those who think the revised second sonata was butchered. The original was perfectly fine, regardless of what Horowitz thought. If you're going to have this article focus so much on the cuts made then it probably would be a good idea to include content about how critics often unjustly appraised his work, especially the "it's too long" whining — and how those cuts affected other pieces. It seems to be almost unanimous, too, that his cuts to the 3rd concerto in his only recorded performance were for the worse. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 107.77.194.145 (talk) 00:51, 25 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]