Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner Rachmaninoff Prelude C# minor hands uncrossed?

I tried one of your websites and the page didn't load. Anyway, we're not discussing your music, we're discussing that of Rachmaninoff, Medtner, and Scriabin. You claim that the music of Rachmaninoff is inferior to that of Scriabin because Rachmaninoff was a conservative and refused to be swept up in the wave of atonality that permeated the first half of the twentieth century and which consumed Prokofiev, Stravinsky, and Scriabin. Well, Bach lived during the beginning of the Classical reform movement. Yet he continued to write in the High Baroque way, using his distinctive mixture of the German, Italian, and French styles. Rachmaninoff is very similar in this respect - he remained with the harmonic language and sonority of Late Romanticism, while Scriabin went on to compose vast quantities of atonal music. So, using your criteria, Scarlatti should be superior to Bach.

When Nikolas starts telling us all about his compositions,
I head for the hills ... having a low threshold of pain.

However, for those who mightn’t know it ...
at the Moscow Conservatory,
Rachmaninoff had Tchaikovsky as a teacher.

“At his final examination in keyboard harmony,
he was given a unique mark; the maximum possible score was five, which, as an acknowledgement of exceptional ability, could be supplemented with a plus mark.

Rachmaninoff earned a five, with four pluses
one each side, one below and one above.”
Kind regards, btb

Polyphonist, my reply and the links where towards Anthony and not yourself. Both links work over here, so not sure on what's wrong...

I just hope that nobody thinks I'm comparing myself to Rachmaninoff! That would be dead idiotic from myself!

I love it!

I love the fact that you end your post with the following:



And thank you polyphonist as well for acknowledging that! quite kind of both of you!

I fear the Greeks bearing gifts!

kind regards, btb

LOL!

I was referring to the story about Rachmaninoff, not his insults about your compositions.

I know... at least I read it this way. Still it was an opportunity for a punch below the belt! :P

After all I'm still laughing in my flame armor.

You seem to really want to turn this into a flame war.

You're still leaving it up to me. The criteria was yours not mine, why not give an example.
I find it hard to believe you don't care if composing is your life's work

If I'm giving this impression, I'm sorry. I'm just taking this thread quite lightly, that's all (thus all the comments and pic about armor and stuff. Completely and utterly silly).

Anthony: You don't seem to get it. It's a post on a (silly) internet debate. That's all. You want to take it apart, by all means. But YOU want examples. You disagree with the classification I made. That's fine by me, you know... I won't bite, I won't fight back, and I probably won't post much else...

Perhaps I'm trolling a bit. :-/

Tone is everything. Nikolas, good-natured, self-deprecating, liberal with the smiley-faces, is the very antithesis of an internet troll. No matter what he actually writes.

-J

As well you should. And as well we all should when reading any thread on PW.


Nikolas is one of the true gentlemen on this forum. Even if I thought he wrote something spiteful or nasty, I'd first question my own interpretation of what he wrote before I'd ever question his intent. "Nasty" just doesn't seem to be in his DNA.

And if he's doing a bit of trolling at the moment, more power to him. The place needs a little livening up from time to time.

Ditto !!!!

If you'll allow me to divert the attention a bit, Rachmaninoff has greater credentials and had greater success, both as a pianist and composer, compared with Scriabin or Medtner.. by pretty much any measure. All three are missing something, though, compared with the masters Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev and later Shostakovich. I suppose that I am predisposed to prefer the composers who respected and understood the contributions of the Western composers, well enough to ultimately improve on them. The "Russian Romantics" were a little too insular and self-absorbed for my taste, though the next guy may have exactly the opposite opinion and admire their individuality.

So you're saying that Rachmaninoff was a Russian Romantic, and Tchaikovsky wasn't? Not sure how you're figuring that one out. And yes, Tchaikovsky is a master, even a genius, but Rachmaninoff (his student) surpassed him in almost every way.

If I'm giving this impression, I'm sorry. I'm just taking this thread quite lightly, that's all (thus all the comments and pic about armor and stuff. Completely and utterly silly).

Anthony: You don't seem to get it. It's a post on a (silly) internet debate. That's all. You want to take it apart, by all means. But YOU want examples. You disagree with the classification I made. That's fine by me, you know... I won't bite, I won't fight back, and I probably won't post much else...

Perhaps I'm trolling a bit. :-/ [/quote
Of course not, you're too superior for all this

This thread has been trashed beyond recognition.

That's par for the course just now. (The spoilers tend to get bored after a while and either become useful contributors or go away.) The problem, of course, is that forum members who have something thoughtful or worthwhile to contribute don't contribute for fear of being trashed by this year's young turk or just don't want to get involved in flame wars.

Live in hope.

John