Classicheggiando (e non) - 7

Rachmaninoff plays Rachmaninoff: The 4 Piano Concertos, Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini

Piano Concerto No.1 in F Sharp minor, Op.1 - III. Allegro Vivace

Piano Sonata No. 21, Op. 53 in C Major Waldstein - Ludwig van Beethoven

Piano Sonata no. 17 in D minor 'The Tempest', Op. 31 no. 2 - I. Largo, allegro - Ludwig van Beethoven (8D - Headphones mandatory for the best experience)

Piano Sonata no. 8 in C minor 'Pathetique', Op. 13 - Ludwig van Beethoven

Piano Sonata no. 8 in C minor 'Pathetique', Op. 13 - I. Grave - Allegro di molto e con brio (8D - Headphones mandatory for the best experience)

The Classic Touch

Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-Flat Minor, Op. 23: 1. Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso (Excerpt) (Arr. for Piano & Orchestra by Olivier Toussaint & Gérard Salesses) [feat. Royal Philharmonic Orchestra]

For wind octet. Performed on July 17, 2025 in Seiji Ozawa Hall by fellows at the Tanglewood Music Center. Commissioned by the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society.

PROGRAM NOTE
Peaberry is a piece of music about coffee -- or, better said, my relationship to coffee. Coffee aficionados will know that coffee beans are not actually beans at all. They're seeds, and they start their lives inside a coffee cherry. Typically, two seeds grow in each cherry, giving coffee beans their characteristic flat-sided shape. A "peaberry" is the rare result when only one seed grows inside a coffee cherry. Because they're scarce and tasty, peaberries are a prized commodity in the specialty coffee world. 

I started home-brewing coffee during the pandemic. I've since gone all the way down the rabbit hole, becoming enthusiastic enough about each cup to seek out the subtle differences between peaberry coffee and a normal cup of joe. Along the way, it's become clear that my routine would be unfathomable without a jolt of java – a day-defining dependency that I haven't fully come to terms with. 

I know I'm not alone. Bach's coffee cantata, which must be the most famous coffee piece in the Western classical tradition, depicts a young woman's coffee habit with some combination of playfulness and moralizing concern. Here I am, three hundred years later, retracing familiar ground.

This music invokes the energy of a few too many great cups of coffee. Alongside the jolts and jitters, it takes time to slow down and linger in a gentle, wistful frame of mind – the kind of mood coffee can be especially good at tamping down. Still, the charm of an especially tasty cup of peaberry is always chattering just around the corner.

Peaberry

Destination Rachmaninoff: Departure

Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 18: I. Moderato

Rachmaninoff plays Rachmaninoff: The Piano Concertos and Solo Pieces

Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor, Op. 30: I. Allegro ma non tanto

Piano Concerto No. 1 in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 1: I. Vivace

Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor, Op. 30: II. Intermezzo: Adagio

Piano Concerto No. 1 in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 1: II. Andante

Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor, Op. 30: III. Finale: Alla Breve

Colburn School - Junior Solo Recital - February 2012

04 Sergei Rachmaninoff  Variations on a Theme of Corelli, Op. 42

Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor, Op. 30: II. Intermezzo: Adagio

Sergei Rachmaninoff

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