From Here to Eternity

Here's what's very cool: the study of the piano is infinite. There is no end to it. Now for some things, never seeing an end would be horrendous--Hell, for instance. Or a tedious task, like listening to your wife relate the excruciating minutiae of the last meeting with her friends. Or Sisyphus, forever pushing his rock up that ramp in Hades. But with music, there's always the next highest level, or genre, to which you can aspire.

I was listening to NPR today and the program included Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto Number 2. This, of course, is one of the world's masterpieces. The narrator informed us that when Rachmaninoff composed the Concerto Number One, it wasn't well received by critics, One critic, in fact, commented the Concerto would only be well-received in Hell. Rachmaninoff was so devastated by this rejection he couldn't compose for three years. Only after extensive psychotherapy could he turn to composition again, and when he did, he knocked it out of the ballpark. The Piano Concerto Number Two is almost supernatural in its beauty.

But that thoughtless comment by that one coarse critic almost deprived the world of one of our most precious talents. I hate critics; these no-talent, frustrated nobodies are quick to cast stones at the people who actually contribute something meaningful to the world, who have the courage to put themselves on the line. I hope when they die they wind up alongside of Sisyphus performing something as meaningless in the afterlife as they performed in life

But back to my point: I was reminded that no matter how proficient I became in the time allotted to me, I will never consume the available piano lore of the word. If I ever get to the point where I can play Rachmaninoff, that would be something, but even then, there are so many even higher vistas to aspire.

So here in two parts is the second movement of Rachmanninoff's Second Piano Concerto. Enjoy it.