He made small cuts to the opening movement and removed a few bars from the central Largo, but he substantially shortened the Finale. After the disastrous premiere of the work, Rachmaninoff immediately embarked on a number of cuts and revisions.

“It’s less like a concerto for piano and more like a concerto for piano and orchestra,” he wrote. Initially, Rachmaninoff was also critical of the role of the orchestra, as it was almost never silent.

“Actually,” he writes, “your concerto amazed me by the fewness of its pages, considering its importance.” He put the matter into exact focus maintaining that his friend didn’t actually suffer from a fear of length but from a fear of boredom. With Rachmaninoff detailing several cuts and questioning the orchestration, Medtner tried to reassure him. 40 “Largo” (Alexander Ghindin, piano Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra Vladimir Ashkenazy, cond.) What I must have piled up there! I have already started (in my mind) to look for cuts.”

I was ashamed! Apparently the whole trouble lies in the third movement. And I recalled my idle talk with you on the matter of length and the need to abridge, compress, and not to be loquacious. It will have to be performed like the ‘Ring’ on several nights in succession. I glanced at its size – 110 pages – and I was terrified! Out of sheer cowardice I haven’t yet checked its time.

He wrote to Medtner on 9 September 1926, “Just before leaving Dresden I received the copied piano score of my new concerto. Once it was written out, Rachmaninoff quickly became his own worst critic. However, it took the encouragement from his good friend Nikolai Medtner, to whom the concerto is dedicated, before Rachmaninoff engaged with the work in earnest. Forced to leave Russia, he apparently took the concerto drafts with him to the West, and quietly worked on it over the next couple of years. The origins may date back as far as 1911, and he did mention a new concerto in April 1914 to a friend. We still don’t know exactly when Rachmaninoff started work on his fourth piano concerto.

Everybody piano