On this page Rachmaninov plays solo piano works by composers as diverse as Bach, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky and Scriabin. We have the opportunity to study his playing of piano music written in styles very different from his own and each other. Here we really put to the test his ability as an interpreter of other composers.
I do not include his playing of Chopin in this category and dedicate to it a page of its own simply because Chopin's music, while from a time almost 100 years earlier, is of such a pianistic nature that it is born of the piano as is Rachmaninov's own piano music. Attempts to Orcestrate it, while a few have been successful, lose the pianistic essence of Chopin in the process.
Of particular interest are Rachmaninov's approaches to the "Harmonious Blacksmith" and the Gluck transcription of the "Melody" from Orfeo. Both are exquisitely and beautifully played, very romantic, and not at all in the historical style of the music. Works for me, though!
And his performance of the "Turkish March" is unlike any I have ever heard. Typically pianists go wild over the marching drum beat as though they want to make absolutely certain of our we taking note of it. Rachmaninov plays it with a classical restraint to wonderful effect, a case of less is more to be sure.
Bach "Sarabande" from Partita #4, BWV 828 Recorded in 1925
Bach Partita for Violin Solo No. 3 in E, BWV 1006 iii. Gavotte en Rondeau
Beethoven/Rubinstein "Turkish March" in Bb Major from The Ruins of Athens Op.113 Recorded in 1925
Bizet: L'Arlésienne ii. Menuet from Suite N° 1 Recorded in 1922
Borodin Scherzo in A flat Major Recorded in 1935
Daquin Premier Livre de Pièces: Troisième Suite - "Le Coucou" Recorded in 1920
Gluck "Melody" from Orfeo
Handel "The Harmonious Blacksmith" Air and Variations
von Henselt Étude "Si Oiseau J'étais"
Chopin-Liszt "The Maiden's Wish"
Liszt Gnomenreigen Recorded in 1925
Mendelssohn Etude Op. 104b N° 3 Recorded in 1927
Mendelssohn Scherzo from 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'
Mendelssohn "Spinning Song"
Moszkowski Etude, Op. 52 N° 4 "Jongleuse"
Mozart Piano Sonata No. 11 in A major, K. 331
i. Andante grazioso
iii. Rondo alla Turca
Paderewski Minuet in G from Humoresques de Concert, Op. 14 N° 1.
Saint-Saens-Siloti "The Swan" from Carnival of the Animals N° 13 Recorded 1924
Scarlatti/Tausig/Rachmaninov "Pastorale" from Sonata in D-minor L 413 Recorded 1919
