Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, op. 18

Large lines, catchy melodies and romantic sounds characterize Rachmaninoff’s legendary Second Piano Concerto. The composer played the premiere himself in Moscow in October 1901. The work quickly achieved international popularity, making it one of today’s most famous and most performed piano concertos ever. With this lasting success, Rachmaninoff had finally broken a prolonged creative block, and he continued to follow the 2nd Piano Concerto, op. 18, with significant compositions each year until he left Russia in 1917. The present first Urtext edition, created in cooperation with the G. Henle Verlag, takes into account the autograph score, as well as recordings with the composer at the piano. The informative texts shed light on the process of creation and the context in Rachmaninoff’s oeuvre.