Life in Shades of F-Major: The World's most beautiful music: Rachmaninov Piano Concerto no. 2, mvmt 2

The World's most beautiful music: Rachmaninov Piano Concerto no. 2, mvmt 2

>> Thursday, May 28, 2009

The C minor has always been among my favorite of the Rachmaninov concerti, and the second movement is some of the most beautiful music ever composed. Played here by the fabulous Russian pianist, Evgeny Kissin with the BBC orchestra. Put your head phones on, lean back and take it in. You'll be glad you did.

P.S. I've added the video of Eric Carmen playing his 1975 hit ballad "All By Myself" based on the 2nd movement of the Rach 2, just for the fun of it.

6 comments:

Unknown May 28, 2009 at 7:57 AM: Hi Lynette,

Shades of "Brief Encounter" and Barry Manilow!! But beautiful all the same.
Lynette May 28, 2009 at 8:42 AM: But Rachmaninov came first! ;-)
Lynette May 28, 2009 at 9:13 AM: The Barry Manilow piece, (Could It Be Magic?), is based on the Chopin Prelude in C minor.
Lynette May 28, 2009 at 9:16 AM: It's the 1975 Eric Carmen ballad "All By Myself" that's based on the 2nd movement of the Rach 2. :)
Unknown May 28, 2009 at 10:18 AM: Thanks Lynette! Could have sworn I'd heard Barry singing it, besides his Chopin steal, but perhaps not. The new video makes a good comparison.
Lynette May 28, 2009 at 10:23 AM: The Chopin and the Barry Manilow are also in C minor, which might explain the mix-up. I'll post those tomorrow.