HELEN 3/23: It’s just dawning on me as I write this that this is the penultimate day for Rachmaninoff — at least for those of us still on schedule! But I took to writing today because of 1. the surprisingly Impressionistic angle I hear on Rachmaninoff played slowly (and painstakingly), for instance, A major (from Sunday, March 20th), and especially the happily recognizable Lento of Monday’s B minor.
Then there is today, G# minor. I began working on this Prelude in December. I think it’s my favorite Rachmaninoff Prelude, and it was fun to play something that actually approaches the composer’s concept. In 2021 I chaired what for most of you is a recognizable event, “Music Tells the Story” (formerly “Tweets and Twitters”). One boy played today’s Prelude in G# minor, and he wrote poetically of a form coming into view in heavy snow. As it approaches you see it’s a man on a sleigh, cap pulled low, scarf and coat protecting him from the bitter cold. The student asked who the man was, what was he thinking, and ended with the thought that the man was unknowable, as his sleigh passed and he rode, silently, away into the snow storm, and disappeared.
GRACE 3/23: Wow! Yes I do find him to be impressionistic at times.
I’m quite behind and not trying to catch up for the sake of my wrists. After not playing piano for several days, but doing a lot of baby care, my right wrist is acting up a little (I’m sure it’s not because of piano. It has something to do with Kaya sometimes demanding we hold her for hours in a particularly uncomfortable position). I’m behind and not playing as much as I’d like. . . .That’s to say it’s been a most stressful month and I’m stuck around prelude number 14. What I have played I’ve either recognized and enjoyed or played so slowly that the piece is unrecognizable, strange, and impossible to follow intellectually. I feel like my left hand has been learning some really smart tricks for leaping across wider spans. And there are of course those notes I just drop because they’re doubled anyway and I don’t want to just myself. It’s an essential skill for the small-handed pianist.
HELEN 3/25: See the entry for 3/24 — you are a trooper, Grace! Yay!