poco piano: ears, instinct, and emotion

This week I rehearsed with my accompanist. She’s playing the orchestra part and I’m playing the soloist part. This little excerpt is from our first rehearsal so it’s just a little messy… but it’s a work in progress and what’s most important is to keep striving! (I think the vibrations from the pianos and my stomping caused the camera to quake a bit, sorry!)

This is from the first movement of Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto no. 2, just a few pages before the recapitulation (the reappearance of the majestic melody of the first theme).

This is one of my favorite parts to play because of the sweeping motions and the action! There’s real dialogue between the orchestra and the soloist, we play off of each other and there’s really no greater feeling. It’s really a whirlwind of action here and to play it means to really empty your mind and let your ears, instinct, and emotion take control.