Friday 11 July 2008

Friday Night is Music Night - Dinner Plates!

I was going to come back to England this week but with all this talk of bear markets I thought I would do a Russian detour instead.

Again finding a decent recording on You Tube proved to be a little problematic. In the end though I found a recording of this piece (the prelude in C# minor) played by the man himself. A little on the crackly side but with so many interpretations available it's great to hear what the composer originally intended.

The dinner plates of course refer to Rachmaninoff's hand span which was an incredible thirteen (white) piano keys or about 12 inches.

Next time you wondering past a keyboard count up what your span is by comparison. I'm a ten at a stretch and even that hurts after a few minutes.

4 comments:

Nunyaa said...

I'd be no good at playing piano, from wrist to finger tip is only about 7 inches long and my palms are not quite as wide as a cigarette lighter is long lol.

jmb said...

That seemed a bit ponderous to me but I would need to compare another recording. No wonder he was such a great pianist.

James Higham said...

Watch out for those bulls as well.

"Grendel" said...

I'm going to have to learn how to do one of those trackback thingies, but in the meantime - I liked the Friday Music (and the idea) so much I've stolen it.

Sorry.

No, really I'm not sorry - its a great idea and I like stealing the best ones.

Friday night is music night at Cafe Grendel now as well.