Pianophilia

Greatly THANK YOU, ALFOR!!

What great ingenious solutions, I would never think of such fingering solutions!!

fleubis wrote:Alfred,you have given us many ingenious and highly logical fingerings in the Rach 3...Pity we never learned the ossia!

You are welcome, dear fleubis, dear soh...

This is what you are locking for, dear fleubis:

RACHMANINOFF
Piano Concerto No. 3
1st movement
alternative cadenza
alfor fingered™
(rest of the cadenza will follow with the 1st movement...
which will follow after the completion of the 3rd movement.)

Wonderful fingering on the Cadenza, Alfred. Not only is the print large enough to see, but your fingering even works with my small hands. No, I can't play it nearly as well as I'd like. It is a very tough thing to play, particularly in context within the whole concerto. I read someplace that the Rach 3rd has more notes in it than any other concerto, and this cadenza certainly helps make that note count believable.

It is no wonder many pianists seem unwilling to risk the ossia, and nearly every performance I've heard manages to miss more than a few notes. My favorite performance of this is Olga Kern's from her 2001 performance at the Van Cliburn, and by now I think I've listened to all the interpretations on YouTube, but everyone has their favorite performances of this, the ultimate piano concerto.

Fingering always seems to be an area where I can use some expert advise - Alfor, would you consider looking at certain passages every now and again for fingering help?

musiclife217 wrote:...Alfor, would you consider looking at certain passages every now and again for fingering help?

???

Let's not Alfred get too far off track, as we are greatly enjoying the fingering work done on the Rach 3, and don't know how much more of this concerto he plans to do, but I am rapidly switching these new pages for my old ones. I'm still employing (and getting better at using) the effective Oriental Sketch fingering supplied not too long ago.

And speaking of the Rach 3, there is an interesting solo piano version to be found at IMSLP of most of the 1st movement.

Some more Rach 3:

Rachmaninoff
Piano Concerto No. 3
3rd movement
2nd part A
alfor fingered™
To be continued...

Alfred, we´re all loving this Rach 3 fingering project you´ve taken on....it will become a valuable resource.

fleubis wrote:Alfred, we´re all loving this Rach 3 fingering project you´ve taken on....it will become a valuable resource.

You are welcome!

I was surprised myself how much easier my fingering for the left hand at the bottom of page 92 is....to say on the other hand that the Master's original fingering is an excellent "exercise in skill".

Could I ask a really "stupid" question?
Who exactly is Alfor?
He doesn't have to answer if he wishes his privacy, but I'm just curious of his musical background.