Contrapunctus

Compare performersSergei Rachmaninoff

Piano Concerto No. 2, Adagio: Rachmaninoff and Richter

Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 18 — II. Adagio sostenuto, opening-side comparison only

Rachmaninoff and Richter play the Adagio’s opening, where the melody passes from flute and clarinet to the piano.

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1929Performance 01

Rachmaninoff, Stokowski, Philadelphia Orchestra

Sergei Rachmaninoff, piano; Philadelphia Orchestra; Leopold Stokowski, conductor

The composer played at Philadelphia’s Academy of Music on 10 April 1929; this opening side preserves the first take of the passage.

3:05
1959Reference recording

Richter, Wisłocki, Warsaw Philharmonic

Sviatoslav Richter, Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra, Stanisław Wisłocki

The Warsaw Philharmonic accompanies Richter in the 1959 Deutsche Grammophon recording of the complete concerto.

11:54
Selected recordingRichter, Wisłocki, Warsaw Philharmonic, 1959
0:00 / 11:54

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The comparison

Muted strings make the short modulation from C minor to E major, and the piano enters quietly with a repeated figure. Flute and clarinet play a melody that the piano later takes over. Rachmaninoff and Stokowski recorded these opening phrases in Philadelphia in 1929; Richter and Wisłocki recorded them with the Warsaw Philharmonic in 1959.

Tempo

Tempo map

Time taken compared with Richter, Wisłocki, Warsaw Philharmonic, 1959: above 1×, the performer takes longer over the same music; below it, less time.

Time taken compared with the reference recordingEach gold line follows a performer. Above 1×, the recording takes longer over the same music. Numbered lines mark the passages below.0.25×0.5×0.75×1×1.25×0:002:004:006:008:0010:001. Broken-chord figures in E major · 0:2012. Clarinet melody over piano arpeggios · 1:4023. Melody in the piano · 3:003Rachmaninoff, Stokowski, Philadelphia Orchestra, 1929Richter, Wisłocki, Warsaw Philharmonic, 1959 (reference)
The reference recording’s clock runs left to right. Each line is smoothed over about eight seconds; pauses can create peaks. Numbers mark the passages below.
  • Rachmaninoff, Stokowski, Philadelphia Orchestra, 1929
  • Richter, Wisłocki, Warsaw Philharmonic, 1959 · reference
Passages

Passages compared

Each version plays in card order, for up to 12 seconds of reference music or until the next marked passage, whichever comes first.

  1. 01

    Broken-chord figures in E major

    0:20 in the reference

    The strings move to E major, and the piano plays the chord as quiet, repeated broken-chord figures. The wind melody enters later.

  2. 02

    Clarinet melody over piano arpeggios

    1:40 in the reference

    The clarinet plays the long melody over even arpeggios in the piano; the strings hold the harmony beneath them.

  3. 03

    Melody in the piano

    3:00 in the reference

    The piano now plays the melody in its upper notes, while the clarinet plays quick figures around it.

Durations

Length of each recording

  1. Rachmaninoff, Stokowski, Philadelphia Orchestra, 19293:05
  2. Richter, Wisłocki, Warsaw Philharmonic, 195911:54

These times include the lead-in and final fade. Cuts, repeats and disc-side breaks also affect a recording’s length.

Performers and sessions

Recording notes

Rachmaninoff, Stokowski, Philadelphia Orchestra, 1929

The composer played at Philadelphia’s Academy of Music on 10 April 1929; this opening side preserves the first take of the passage.

Sergei Rachmaninoff, piano; Philadelphia Orchestra; Leopold Stokowski, conductor
10 April 1929

Listening notes & recording detailsOriginal recording source ↗
Sources & method

Further reading

How the recordings are matched

The matching follows sequences of pitches, using a method called dynamic time warping. Every recording is mapped to the reference, so switching between two versions goes through that shared clock. Where several reference times match one point, the middle time is used.

  • Rachmaninoff, Stokowski, Philadelphia Orchestra, 1929: match score 0.854. Matched passages available.

Switching stays within the matched span, and trimmed recordings keep their original clock times. Match scores describe similarity in the sound.