Rachmaninoff's 4th Concerto is Criminally Underrated (ft. Lugansky, Giltburg, Ohlsson) 

2:39 MEDTNER MENTIONED 🗣️🗣️🗣️💯💯🗣️🔥🗣️🔥🔥💯🎹🎹🥶🥶

I still recall a solo recital by Rachmaninoff (Ann Arbor, 1938). I don't remember much else from those early years, but this I will never forget.

I've been listening to Rach for 25 years, I'm 41 now. I know all his works, piano, orchestral and otherwise. I never considered any moments as suicidal, nor have i ever thought of his music as "dark". This is because our dear SVR always, ALWAYS, provides us the balance, the resolution. Does it sound sometimes dark? Absolutely. Does it sometimes also sound like the most beautiful thing ever in existence? Yes it does. His music is it's own very complicated and organic universe. But it's always counter weighted / balanced. Thanks for the video!

The narration about Rachmaninoff had a deep touch with me. Disillusioned by the world by getting older. I say this because my dad passed away 2 weeks back. I watched this over and over again. He didn't mind classical music, but he wouldn't listen to it on his own. I always played the "classics" as it were. I'll miss you old boy🙏

2:40 Thank you tonebase for mentioning the dedicatee of the Rach 4, Nikolai Medtner, whom this Rachmaninov concerto often reminds me of. Two kings of the romantic era, easily the two successors of Franz Liszt's middle period.

I heard Daniil Trifonov play this live and it was magical

Absolutely love your work! But could you please, PLEASE cover Nikolai Kapustin? An absolute gem and very underrated composer

When I grow older I come to appreciate Rachmaninoff's 4th Concerto

Michelangeli interpretation is astonishing

The greatest modernist musical work IMO. In it he keeps his romantic, but working through chromatic modernism, filled with difficulty, at points crowning with beautiful melody.

I’m a guitarist, but I watch so many piano videos. My love and fascination toward M. Lugansky’s interpretations are enormous. I wish he could write a book someday about Rachmaninov…

Rach 4 is criminally underrated BUT... all THREE of Nikolai Medtner's Piano Concerto's are even more underrated. He was a good friend of Rachmaninoff - and Rach considered him to be his greatest contemporary composer. He is the dedicatee of Rach 4 so it's especially appropriate to mention this - and Medtner also dedicated his second concerto to Rach!

Such a gorgeous Concerto. Totally agree with you when you said “…the most authentic expression of the composer’s personal journey and spiritual identity.” One could say, it took Rachmaninoff 3 concerti to sound more like Rachmaninoff. All the longing and retrospection that you get from the second and third, now culminating in much more introspection and maturity. Awesome video Ben! Thank you.

His haunting melodies are just gorgious. My favorite piano composer AND a magnificent pianist himself. I doubt there will ever be another like him.

To me, Rachmaninov's 4th Piano Concerto is one that Listen to at least 4 times a week ... I even enjoy and love both the 1st and 4th before Rachmaninov revised them. Rachmaninov to me is why I learnt piano on the first place having my mother being concert pianist and as a small kid in France, I was completely hooked to his music ...

I first became hooked on the 2nd, then the third, then the fourth, and finally the 1st. They are all incredible, just like these documentaries you've put together. Thank you.

I know it might sound crazy but In my opinion, Earl Wild's renditions of the Rachmaninoff's Piano Concertos with The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under conductor Jascha Horenstein are unparalleled. The synergy between Wild's virtuosity and the orchestra's performance is truly exceptional. I highly recommend giving those recordings a listen to experience the brilliance of Rachmaninoff's concertos brought to life.

I've always adored the sweep and triumph in the opening of the concerto. It also makes me dream of what a Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 5 may have been.

Always such a joy to watch your videos! Thanks.

I absolutely love Rach 4! Thank you for making this video. tonebase never disappoints.

Wonderful stuff, Dr Ben. Just superb.

Excellent vídeo, Thanks for that!!❤

Thank you for all of this Ben 🙏

This gives us a much greater appreciation of this particular concerto. Thanks so much!

I'm so grateful for this video. I am even more interested in this music now. Ben your recording is amazing.

Rachmaninoff has always been able to dissect and analog every visceral emotion. His climax’s are drawn enough to indulge but quick enough to really appreciate. All of his works has their own unique and surprising appeal to life which have granted them an invaluable worth to me. Tonebase sees and translates that’s to all and I am forever greatful❤️❤️❤️

Definitely the most underrated Rachmaninov piano concerto. Thanks for making a video of it 😁

Thanks Ben, for this analysis of one of my favourite pieces. Rach 4 deserves to be heard by more people. Your three guests (all of them superb pianists) offered valuable perspectives.

Hey. I wonder if you could talk about Scriabin’s concerto in a video I think it would be really cool btw your videos are really cool and the fact you got Lugansky as a guest proves the quality of your production definitely 😂

Hello Mr. Laude, everything by Rachmaninoff speaks to me, so I feel blessed to have experienced his repertoire. Thank you for sharing with listeners a way to hear his music with reduced judgements.

Great! Rach 4 has always been my second favorite of all 4 concertos.

Speaking of criminally underrated Rachmaninoff pieces, his first piano sonata is THE most underrated of his work, in my opinion. I think it's one of the pinnacles of 20th century piano literature, but it's hardly ever performed or recorded. It sits in the shadow of his second sonata, but it's just as good or even better if you ask me. I would love to see a video on that!

Such good content!!

One, two, and three were were "Close Encounters" four was an autobiographical "Saving Private Ryan" The second movement contains true tragic despair.

Captivating stuff.... Ive always loved piano concerto no. 4. At 13 I discovered it after no. 2 and before no. 3.....what a shock to the system it was then. Truly underated. 50 years on I am still mesmorised by its beauty.

Thanks so much for this vid

What a wonderful episode, and high time that the 4th Concerto received some love! In recent years, it is the Rachmaninov concerto that I have listened to the most (the equally underrated 1st Concerto coming in a close second), and much as Ben stated, one can revisit it a thousand times. It grows and makes ever more sense with repeated listening. I don´t know how many listenings it took before I was hooked, maybe it was 10, maybe 20. It was Michelangelis famous 1957 recording with Ettore Gracis and the Philharmonia Orchestra, and I am glad that it was mentioned here. He championed this concerto and he absolutely nailed it in the first take. He reportedly was so satisfied with his performance that he uttered that he did not think he could do it better. Others such as Trifonov and Ashkenazy have put in very fine or even great performances, but Michelangelis reading is the one that I keep returning to. Just a few of many details in his reading: the whole build-up to the climax starting from about 4:44, the climax at 6:10-6:44, the calm immediately following this. And in Michelangelis recording, the climax of the 4th Concerto does not make me wish for the heights of the 2nd Concerto, it towers in its own right. Celibidache said that Michelangeli was the only one who was aware that the climax of a piece is in a steady relation to the beginning and the end. I do not pretend to understand exactly what Celibidache meant, but the Rachmaninov 4th Piano Concerto seems to me a perfect demonstration of this ability of Michelangeli.

Great! Idk if you mentioned that in full version, but it is so impressive how the whole 30 (25) minutes of music is built by just one entrance theme of the first movement. Amazing “lisztian” tradition when one part of theme could be in different (often - in opposite) moods.

I love Rach 4. I’ve played through the first movement and love the middle part in 6/8 laden very heavily with a low melody and gradually moves up the keyboard and increases in intensity until a brief two-hand chordal explosion and then he ends going off on a sprint Yuja Wang played this very well this year in Philadelphia - I saw her play it twice. As well as every other concerto, and the rhapsody four times. She is a machine.

Simply -fantastic!

One of the orchestras whose channel I subscribe to did a live broadcast of this work a few days ago. I was stunned. I mean, wow. Right on cue, your video turns up. No - thank YOU! Best wishes from Vermont 🍁

YES! Thanks for talking about the Etude Op. 33 no. 3! I just happened to hear that etude last week somewhere on youtube, and thought to myself, "Hold up, this ending section sounds just like Rach's 4th concerto! He must've liked it so much that he recycled it." Glad to see tonebase make the link too - and so cool that you got Lugansky to demonstrate that moment. Love your content!

15:13 that chord progression always makes me smile.

I always loved this concert a lot...it is so interesting

The first day that I arrived at the US, I listened to Rach 4, almost cried at the end of the second movement.

Excellent video. Especially given the fact that you have Mark Andre Hamelin on often, you should do a deep dive and/or series on Medtner. His Sonatas are arguably unrivaled in the 20th century repertoire and he is horribly neglected. His fairy tales are also so unique and worthwhile.

Bill Evans turned Miles Davis onto the Michelangeli recording of Rachmaninoff 4 (pw Ravel Concerto) and this was the music he was listening to when they recorded "Kind of Blue"

YES IT IS!!! i saw yuja wang perform 3 & 4 live in orlando last january 🥹

Nice to hear a bit of the original version of the 4th.

Amazing video. How about that Yamaha CFX? I like a good Steinway but this piano is something special.

My favourite recording of rach 4 got taken off RU-vid a few months ago, I have been searching either for the recording or a replacement ever since. I can’t believe I never checked who was playing in the recording

I realized very quickly in my 20's that this was a very special concerto. The finale is absolutely thrilling in it's stark pianistic economy of notes and harmonies. The sheer drive to the end grabs you by the throat and pulls you over the edge. I found myself listening over and over again to the last few minutes of the finale.

I always enjoy hearing about how rachmaninov had an affinity for humor and would laugh heartily.... Such a great personality, and the music.... All of it is great!!

I love op. 40. It feels uncompleted, fragmented, tortured, confused… like the modern world. I like all 3 versions, but even the last one (mostly the finale) feels incomplete. While a young composer sometimes fails and Rachmaninoff always had (unnecessary) doubts about the quality and length of his works, he seems to have had serious doubts during the composition of his op. 40 over the years and when listening to the 3th version of it I like to guess that if he hadn't died early he'd composed a 4th version 20 years later.

I would LOVE if you made a video about Medtner

It is indeed under rated i didnt know this existed until a year into knowing rachmaninoff music

Please make a video about the Prokofiev Piano concertos 2/3 :))

It has always been my favourite Rachmaninoff concerto, and I have never understood the lack of appeal. It is a much more emotionally complex work, it is true, but the harmonic language is also so much more elaborate.

8:16 I agree!! I didnt like the Rach 4 very much the first time i listened to it. However, i discovered more perspectives from this concerto and realized just how great this piece of music is, the more i listened to it. This concerto does feel intimate, profound and rhapsodic, it has a feeling of being lost and wandering, i believe this is what makes it special and different from the other 3. I enjoy listening to it now much more than i used to.

Yuja Wang was "blown away" by Michelangeli's interpretation of this masterwork, now she "blows us away" with her interpretation. This is Rachmaninoff at it's best. ❤❤❤

You guys should totally do a video on Medtner

13:44 What is that ww insert? Which bars? Does this define the fourth version?

Damn! I wish it was about Rach 1. It’s literally my favourite. He wrote it when he was 19 🤯 I think the only reason why it’s not so popular is because no one really plays it properly. The only people who seem to “get” the concerto are Trpčeski and Trifonov

The Fourth, along with the Symphonic Dances, is one of my favourite pieces. Rachmaninov was the original emotional goth; he was dark. This is the pinnacle of his almost jazzy chromaticism counterpointed with his most economic orchestration. You seem to have glossed over the second movement, which for me is the entire musical point of the concerto.

Yes. Rach’s many revisions suggest that it is indeed a very personal affective journey, played out here. And therefore more revealing than the first three concerti. A reading of it that draws seriously upon his biography is necessary - and not imposed upon the music.

The original 4th Concerto is even greater than this revised version. Lugansky at 4:00 is on another level.

I have loved Rach 4 since I first heard it. Good music does not necessarily require fireworks or technical bravado.

You're from Shepherd!! Well I'm not but I'm from Houston and have friends from there!

The first version works better for me than the last revised one. It makes better musical sense.

Rach 1 please!!

Michelangelis Rach 4.. 👌 Thats the one for me

Great

Also his third Symphony is so underrated

Do a breakdown of Rach 1! The best of the 4

Best!

I know what you mean and I know what you mean. I have tried to rate this concerto along with the 2 & 3 and I honestly do appreciate how much emoting you try to bring out of the excerpts you play. I find its brevity unsatisfying and its melodies as a collection - NB as a collection (I with there was an italics function) - just don't merge and flow with the same urgency. I hear in it an overabundance of complexity which does not resolve into the clean-lined sonic landscapes of the two preceding concertos (and the Paganinni Variations).

It was championed by Michaelangeli, who made the benchmark recording.

excellent plea for this piece, very detailed and informative. I know this piece since I was 18 . now I am 68 and got to know the original version and I must say that I find it superior to the 1941 version. it is structural more cohesive and has passages that are simply overwhelmingly fascinating. The 1941 version is in my humble opinion too "cut", too much is thrown out of it. Yes , I love 2 and 3 concerto ,but this one has been a fascination all of my live, because, as is mentioned in the documentary, the longing for Russia and at the same time the modern hectic life in the States made him misunderstood and solitair, I believe

Can anyone tell me the name of the Richard Strauss music played around 6:25?

I love the original version, and think the 3rd movement works so much better.

also in the red ridinghood piece I always remember a part during the climax where there is many rapid high notes, and I always like to imagine that Rachmaninoff wrote that to be red redinghoods screams, about 2:08 in this video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-wXmL55DwuaQ.html

whats that at 6:30? i melt

Im just commenting to salute Nikolai Lugansky and Boris Giltburg. I don't know Rach's fourth concerto, but I would be delighted if you'd do a little something about Prokofiev 8th sonata ! And Shostakovich was not that suicidal, for someone probably always living under threat fearing being executed. Love your channel, many thanks for the light you bring !

medtner video when (maybe with hamelin????) (please)

1st concerto is even more underrated

his best concerto!

How about the second piano sonata?

I'm always left conflicted by these types of analysis. On one hand, I do find the history and the context in which the artist creates, absolutely fascinating. That knowledge can add colors to a piece that otherwise might have been missed. But on the other hand, they almost deface the work. Just as adding new colors to a painting would ultimately deface the presented image as originally created and intended. In these cases I have to intentionally turn off the intellect and simply try to let the music take me on a self guided journey, and let the destination be a mystery every time, with each new listen.

In the case of the Second Symphony, which used to be performed with substantial cuts, a consensus seems to have been fairly well established that the work is best heard uncut; more and more pianists these days seem to me to be favoring either the original version of the Second Piano Sonata, or a conflation of the original and the revision, as opposed to the pared-down revision. But - there seems to me to be no clear consensus yet as to which version of the Fourth Concerto will be accepted as the preferable version by a majority of performers and listeners. I will concede that at the moment, the latest revision still appears to be the most often heard, but I am not sure that one of the two earlier versions will not gain ground in the future. I think there are some who feel strongly that the original is superior, especially in the case of the finale, but I think there have as yet not been enough performances of either of the first two version (especially the middle one, which appears to have attracted very few champions since the release of the first recording by William Black and Igor Buketoff back in 1991. Perhaps some iconic version of the original might someday gather a following and an influence comparable to those of Horowitz or Cliburn's 3rd Concerto, or of Michelangeli's 4th. So far, I don't think this has happened - might that be simply because we haven't yet heard a sufficient number of alternative performances, or has the final "streamlined" version already won out?

"This Rachs" 😂 broke me right at beginning 😂😂

Rachmaninoff 🖤

Rach 4 deserves to be heard because it's beautiful music! "Suicidal energy?" My foot!

Very much loves me lots of Rach. Wonderful analysis here.

The equivalent of this for Prokofiev is his 5th concerto

I've never felt this to be a dark piece, no matter the version to be honest. In fact, I found it very playful and jazzy. I like the 1926 version more, but all the versions feel experimental, and just plain adventurous.

1:42 that Dr Laude?

IS NO ONE GOING TO ACKNOWLEDGE RACH 1 definitely a more youthful work but it is so underrated the first movement has this massive haunting cadenza and in my opinion the second movement rivals any second movement he has ever written SVR never wrote a forgettable concerto SVR never wrote just forgettable music

did you notice Rachmaninoff doing a Nazaroff hand exercise [actually #1]?

How can people not hear the romance in the 2nd movement...its right there! Maybe I need to see a therapist?!😂

Arturo Benedetto-Michelangeli all the way. Only a mature Virtuoso/a should attempt this. The expressions of the soul in this work are beyond talent and manual dexterity.