Sergei Rachmaninoff (18731943)
Piano Concerto No. 1 in F# minor, Op. 1 (1891, 1917)
Nikolai Lugansky, soloist
Stanislav Kochanovsky conducting Orchestre de Paris, 2019

I.
[0:00] Intro (Vivace)
[0:46] Exposition Theme 1 (Moderato Vivace)
[2:58] Exposition Theme 2 (Poco meno mosso)
[3:49] Dev. (Vivace Moderato)
[7:09] Recap. Theme 1 (Moderato Vivace)
[8:51] Recap. Theme 2 (Allegro)
[9:41] Cadenza
[12:17] Coda (Vivace)

II.
[12:45] Andante
[13:58] Solo
[15:20] Orchestra in
[17:06] a tempo (non allegro)

III.
[18:55] A (Allegro Vivace)
[20:06] B (Allegro)
[21:00] C (Andante ma non troppo)
[23:38] A’ (Tempo I)
[24:57] B’ (Allegro ma non tanto)
[25:53] Coda (Allegro Vivace)


“Youthful freshness is not an unexpected quality considering that the first movement of the Concerto was written by a student musician of 17, and the second and third movements when he was all of 18. What is remarkable is that Rachmaninoff maintained the freshness when he revised the work in 1917, some 26 years later. By that time, he had many major works to his credit – in addition to the Second and Third Piano Concertos, there were two symphonies, for the second of which he had won the prestigious Glinka Prize. And he had become celebrated not only as a composer but also as a pianist and conductor. The First Concerto, then, reflects both a teenaged Rachmaninoff who was already in possession of a strongly defined compositional style, and a mature, worldly, and experienced creative artist."

Orrin Howard