Musical Interlude 3

Bleeding Stump

More Rachmaninov. This time, it’s the second movement of the Sonata no 2 op 36 (revised version).

It’s is an example of what snobby Radio 3 types call a ‘bleeding stump’, i.e. a single movement of a work played alone, shorn of its context within the wider piece. But then snobby Radio 3 types don’t like Rachmaninov at all.

He’s one of those composers whose reputation is based on a small number of very famous works, and sneered at for that reason, but his wider catalogue contains many under-appreciated gems. He was one of the great pianist-composers and his works encompass everything it is possible to do on a piano, as well as a few things that clearly aren’t.

The composition of this piece was interrupted by Rachmaninov’s two daughters contracting typhoid. Happily, they recovered and the work was completed. Here’s my best effort, take 23: