Classical Hour
Joana Mallwitz
Francesco Piemontesi Sergei Rachmaninoff

In 1909, Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) traveled on his first US tour. He brought along a newly written piece—Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor. He was the soloist at the premiere in New York, not knowing that he would emigrate to the US nine years later after the Russian Revolution.

Piano Concerto No. 3 opens with a simple, melancholic melody, but during the next 45 minutes, the soloist must master some of the most spectacular music ever written for the piano. Few pianists tried it in the first years, but it gradually became more popular and performed.