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After a two-year hiatus, Paul Jones will once again perform for Fairfielders. Unlike his previous solo recitals, however, he will debut what is perhaps the most complex, technically challenging concerto ever written for the piano, Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto. As such, he will be accompanied by an additional pianist who will perform the orchestra part, which Rachmaninoff himself composed.
Other compositions on the program will include the Sonata K. 330 by Mozart, the Eighth Nocturne by Faure, a short one-movement sonata by Scarlatti, and, finally, Rachmaninoff's Prelude in G Minor. The Third Concerto will follow the mid-concert intermission.
A late middle-period work of Rachmaninoff, the Third Concerto recently garnered international attention by being the musical centerpiece of Shine, the film depicting the life of the Australian pianist David Helfgott. Given Helfgott's emotionally challenging life, a great deal of exaggerated psychological import has been attributed to the piece by popular culture. It was, after all, Helfgott's performance of the concerto at the Royal Conservatory that precipitated his own psychotic break.
Nevertheless, there is, as the film also makes abundantly clear, something about the piece itself that does test the sanity of the performer both in terms of learning it and airing it in public. According to Paul, who initially tackled it at the age of 19, the first movement alone took an entire summer to learn. Part of the problem is the sheer length of the Third Concerto: some 40-45 minutes total. Another is its late-Romantic pianistic and musical complexity. This, coupled with Rachmaninoff's own enormous physical stature and hands, as well as his incredible virtuosity, make for a musical composition that is extraordinarily demanding technically. Even Rachmaninoff himself was aware of its daunting challenges, and played it brilliantly.
That is, until he heard Vladimir Horowitz do it, after which time Rachmaninoff never performed, or even practiced, the piece ever again. Today, all but a small handful of virtuosi maintain it as part of their repertoire, and then perform it only very infrequently, owing to its difficulties.
"I recall vividly running into the legendary Spanish pianist, Alica de Larrocha," says Paul, "who, when I asked her how the concerto was coming for her appearance with the New York Philharmonic, simply rolled her eyes while she crossed her fingers. And when Andre Watts did it with the Detroit Symphony, he was so terrified that the stage hands had to just about push him out on stage."
So why do something like this? "Well," Paul says, " part of it is successfully meeting the sheer magnitude of the technical challenge, of course. It's also the thrill of making this deeply felt, dramatic music with your own two hands, but in such a way as to maintain the unbroken access to the transcendental to which this piece gives audible life. It is this access, this silent background, which cradles the music, giving it a sensitivity and spontaneity that makes it a great favorite with concert audiences throughout the world. The driving force behind presenting it in Fairfield is precisely my own sincere desire to share that special Rachmaninovian magic that comes from this connection with the creative source itself."
Plan to attend Paul Jones' first concert in two years: Saturday, June 12, at 8:00 p.m. in Barhydt Chapel.
