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Saturday, May 14, 2011

Classical Series: Rachmaninoff's 2nd Piano Concerto - Eric Carmen, "All By Myself".






The Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18, is a concerto for piano and orchestra composed by Sergei Rachmaninoff between the autumn of 1900 and April 1901. The second and third movements were first performed with the composer as soloist on 2 December 1900.[2] The complete work was premiered, again with the composer as soloist, on 27 October 1901, with his cousin Alexander Siloti conducting. This piece is one of Rachmaninoff's most enduringly popular pieces, and established his fame as a concerto composer

At its 1897 premiere, Rachmaninoff's first symphony, though now considered a significant achievement, was derided by contemporary critics. Compounded by problems in his personal life, Rachmaninoff fell into a depression that lasted for several years. His second piano concerto confirmed his recovery from clinical depression and writer's block. The concerto was dedicated to Nikolai Dahl, a physician who had done much to restore Rachmaninoff's self-confidence.

For more information, please visit - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_Concerto_No._2_(Rachmaninoff)

"All by Myself" is a power ballad written and performed by Eric Carmen in 1975.

The verse borrows heavily from the second movement (Adagio Sostenuto) of Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Opus 18, which Carmen believed was in the public domain. Having found it was not only after the record had been issued, Carmen had to come to an agreement with the Rachmaninoff estate. Early versions, therefore, only give writing credit to Carmen while later versions also credit Rachmaninoff. The chorus borrows from a song "Let's Pretend" that Carmen had written for the Raspberries in 1973. Carmen's full version has an extended piano solo and lasts over seven minutes. There is also an edited version of 4 minutes 22 seconds.

The song was the first release from Carmen's first solo LP after leaving the power pop group the Raspberries and was originally recorded by the author and released in December 1975 to great success. It reached number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 1 on Cash Box Top 100 Singles and number 12 in the UK. The single sold more than one million copies in the United States and was certified gold by the RIAA in April 1976. In a 2006 poll for UK's Five programme Britain's Favourite Break-up Songs Eric Carmen's version of this song was voted seventeenth.

For more information, please visit - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_by_Myself


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