Rachmaninoff's Recording For Other Musicians

Rachmaninoff’s recording for other musicians Rachmaninoff was an important musician in the late Romantic period. Before the October Revolution in 1917, he paid so more time on composing that his lots of important works were written in this period, such as three piano concertos, 24 preludes, etudes, second symphony and so on. After the October Revolution, he left Russia to the United States, and increasingly focused on playing piano and directing career. In 1919 Rachmaninoff began recording his first commercial recording and he kept recordings until death. During that time, he did not only record his own compositions but also recorded for other musicians, like Beethoven, Schumann, Chopin and so on. Thus, we can make sure

Compare his recording with other great pianists, such as Paderewski, Horowitz, Friedman, Hoffmann etc., we will find that there are so many differences between Rachmaninoff and other pianists. Rachmaninoff exhibits his own certain stylistic features. These include: fast tempo, very considerate of rubato, and less pedal. He always likes to look for the deepest meaning of each piece. It means his interpretation has rich emotional perfect technical control to conquer his audience.

Tempo Tempo helps their emotion very directly, so following composer’s tempo marking is a basic requirement for pianists. Appropriate adjustment could be allowed, but Rachmaninoff unusually plays with very fast tempo. This is like Robert Philip said: “his fastest tempi are faster than the printed metronome markings.” Take the maneuvering octave from Chopin's Scherzo No.3 as an example. In Rachmaninoff’s recording, he did not try to use exaggerated dynamic and express his emotion. On the contrary, he plays with the fast-tempo and very heavy volume to impress the audience. Rhythm

Correctly using pedal can make our play perfect; on the other hand, would destroy our play. Most of the pianists play romantic piece with much pedal to express the emotion, but Rachmaninoff does not like to use much pedal or he never use pedal in some pieces.
At the middle of Hungarian Rhapsody No.2, compare with Lang Lang and Horowitz, Rachmaninoff plays smoothly and clean unlike other people with sustain pedal although the articulation of this part is staccato. Actually, this kind of playing is excellent for audience. According Jay Leyda said, “Rachmaninoff played Liszt’s Second Rhapsody, did he let his hearers forget the piano as an instrument… only the native wildness of Liszt's Rhapsody, laced and interlaced with his own ornament as well as the composer's, warmed Mr. Rachmaninoff out of his dry and dull