The 12 Easiest Bars In Rachmaninoff Are A Pianist's Nightmare

0:00 Rachmaninoff wrote lots of notes
2:29 The passage in context
3:58 Sokolov plays it (without messing up)
4:58 Two types of memory slips: #1 Vertigo
5:57 Competition winner & Gavrilov's vertigo
6:47 Two types of memory slips: #2 Lost in the Woods
7:25 Require first aid: Melnikov, Bunin, Chopin laureate
8:00 Missteps: Howard, Zimerman, Kissin
8:57 Wrong inversion: Kocsis, Ohlsson
10:59 Rachmaninoff forgets his own notes
11:45 Four tricky things about the passage
14:17 The "purely musical way" of memorizing it
16:38 The experience of being hypnotized

Ben Laude and Garrick Ohlsson explore a notorious passage in Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto.

Produced and edited by Ben Laude.
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[mickizurcher]

This is by far your best video, side-splitting. I can’t believe the hairsplitting editing you did …kudos, but do me a favor throw away that horrid green stained T-shirt that color comes with a jail sentence. it is against the law to wear that color in public Ew.
Now, if you would only spend as much time at the keyboard, as you do, doodling with your videos …aw, good luck at your concert break a leg!

[juliegastler]

Professional pianists hit wrong notes. It's okay to hit wrong notes. What matters is how you respond to that. Thank you for talking openly about that. I feel a sense of relief.

[epicgamer]

This video reminded of what my piano teacher taught me years ago which was "don't bumble around trying to fix mistakes, act all natural and move on".

[jemimalamb]

It doesn't matter if you make mistakes, it does matter if you don't keep going on with the performance. ❤

[ClassicalRaritiesChannel]

I had a chance to watch Mikhail Pletnev rehearse this concerto last year in Jūrmala. He would repeat this passage again and again and again during the breaks, and I remember thinking "wow this is so weird, why would he be so obsessed with these few notes". Makes so much more sense now 😂

[eddydelrio]

I LOVE your channel. For an aging physician who formerly studied piano at the DMA level at a distinguished US conservatory, who has so little opportunity to even maintain my playing ability and repertoire, let alone advance either, your posts are such a lifeline to me both musically and pianistically. Thank you, thank you, thank you, and may success follow you wherever you go!

Your ANALYSIS was excellent and is the key to correct performance in my opinion.

[e.p.s.]

As someone with anxiety issues, this video made it sky rocket! My deepest admiration to those who pull through playing live

[Kaimo]

I have played this concerto several times and never messed up this passage - but I am impressed by your ability to play the trill so fast with the 3th and 5th fingers haha

[iampracticingpiano]

This video was a lot of fun--more of this kind of content, please. Experienced pianists thoroughly enjoy comparative analysis of the "greats" and learn much from it.

[Chopin-Etudes-Cosplay]

16:38 Love the connection with hypnosis, since this concerto was dedicated to Rachmaninoff’s psychiatrist who hypnotized him

[foljamb]

very entertaining and very valuable: what tonebase is pointing to at the end is the usefulness of a knowledge of functional harmony in the secure memorization of tonal music--and functional harmony is the easiest part of music theory for a pianist to master: we can see it on the keys, we get to hear it in chords modulating, and we get to make it part of the train of thought as we play and tend to finger technique

[PianoBuffs]

Man... I had a memory lapse in this precise place while performing this live... I never realized it was such a common phenomenon :D

[sambarker]

This is why I'm a jazz musician, there are no wrong notes as long as you play with confidence lol

[michaelowens]

Mega-kudos to Ohlsson for discussing his mistakes in public. My admiration for that man is still soaring.

[kerenneeman]

Also, it is a very contemplative moment in which it is easy to get lost in the beauty of the sound. Keeping a warm heart and a cold mind is not so easy sometimes. Loved the video, BTW.

[ianstewart]

Fantastic video. I played this movement back in my high school recital, and I made the same mistake as Gavrilov. It was fun to learn why so many pianists find this part so difficult!

[ernestbarretta]

Dude, spot on as usual 👏 I also think that when the passage returns in Gb the fact it's not an exact transposition can confuse an already-overtaxed memory at this point in the piece...good luck with it!!

[imagn]

Very informative and interesting video! Good luck on Rach. 2, we believe in you 🥰

[ltbrooklynny]

Your hairsplitting is entertaining! Thank you! I love all the erroneous versions that don't sound wrong at all!

[beatricenicholas]

I've had nightmares about those few bars the night before performing this concerto