The Rachmaninoff 2nd and 3rd concertos recieve so much critical acclaim but upon repeated listenings of the 1st concerto I am beginning to enjoy it as much as the others. It is very virtuoisic as well to boot.

The first movement has a great melody, some very beautiful sections, and a fabulous cadenza.

The second movement is absolutely dreamy and sad.

The third movement is kind angry at the beginning but becomes quite beautiful later on and ends excitidly.

I don't know why this concerto is so neglected by the more popular 2nd and 3rd concerto.

Heck, I'm beginning to enjoy the 4th concerto as well (I partically like the 2nd movement of that one).

I find much of rachmaninoff's music disturbing though I have a strange compulsion to listen to it sometimes after which I have to wash away the desolation with some bach.

bach - rachmaninoff : heaven and hell

I have only listened to his 2nd and 3rd concertos and I consider the 2nd the stronger one.

Check out Zimerman's recording of the 1st concerto. It's absolutely stunning~!

When I first purchased a recording of the three concertos, I liked two and three the best, but after listening to them all many times, I like them all equally, for the most part. I love the beginnings of both the 1st and 4th concerti, and find that they're all beautiful in their own ways.

The first concerto is great, and I agree on the climax.

The 4th has an awesome filmmusic-ish climax in the first movement, but I'm not too fond of this concerto, the structure feels quite weak to me.

I recently recieved the pleasure to see the first movement performed with the Madison Symphony. A 16 year old, whose name escapes me at the moment.
Stunning.

Iamcanadian - Do you prefer Zimerman's recording to Richter's?

I have heard Wild, Ashkenazy, Janis, and Richter play this one. I probably should listen to it more - the Second and Third Concertos sort of take over the stage, though!

I don't particularly care for the Fourth Concerto, except for maybe the second movement.

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http://www.amarillosymphony.org/season/notes_2003_2004/2004_02_21.php

Sergey Rachmaninov grew up in a musical family, middle-class but under strained economic conditions. His gifts as a pianist were recognized early, but he always wanted to compose and considered himself a composer first, pianist second. However, choosing exile after the 1917 revolution in Russia forced him to become primarily a world-traveling pianist in order to put bread on the table.

By age 19 he was already established as a performer, gaining instant fame as a composer as well with his Prelude in C-Sharp Minor, a work that haunted him all his life because audiences always expected (and demanded) it as encore at his concerts.

In 1889 Rachmaninov started work on a piano concerto but abandoned it, only sketches remaining. But he returned to the form in the following year, finishing the F-Sharp Minor concerto in 1891 as a graduation project from the St. Petersburg Conservatory. It was a sensational success at its premiere, lauded by fellow pianists and public alike for its brilliant dramatic contrasts, sensuous slow movement and fiery, driving finale that required dazzling virtuosity from the soloist. Rachmaninov performed it on a number of occasions but was dissatisfied with it and revised it extensively, especially the orchestration, shortly before his departure from Russia in December 1917. This is the version usually performed today.

The overall structure of the first movement bears Rachmaninov's unmistakable signature, repeated in the subsequent three concertos. It opens with a brass fanfare, followed by the piano in descending octaves and ominous chords, after which the orchestra introduces the main theme followed by a much gentler second. The development involves much flashy finger work and in places recalls Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto. a lengthy cadenza leads to the end of the movement.

The short second movement opens with a plaintive horn call after which the piano introduces the main theme, which never returns in its original form. The movement has been compared to a Chopin étude.

In the abrupt opening of the final movement, Allegro vivace, Rachmaninov copies a device set by Tchaikovsky that would also reappear in his mature concertos. Rachmaninov's finales would alternate flashy writing for piano with a contrasting slower and more lyric middle section combining his skills as a melodist with romantic expressiveness. In this concerto, the contrasting andante ma non troppo middle section is particularly long, after which the movement returns to the allegro vivace and an appropriately exciting conclusion for the composer/pianist.