Cecile Licad and Rach 3

The Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30 (aka "Rach 3") by Rachmaninoff (colloquially known as the "Rach 3") is a technically and musically demanding concerto, and Cecile Licad wowed the audience recently.

Licad performed as soloist of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of JoAnne Faletta.

I was amused by the headline in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, because apparently Rach 3 is technically difficult and requires large male hands. And according to Wikipedia, a typical performance of the concerto lasts about 40 minutes.

No wonder a 2002 performance was segmented into a number of video parts in YouTube by tiklado07. In a vid (uploaded in September 2007) marked "Rachmaninov - Piano Concerto no. 3 (Cecile Licad) 1/6", tiklado07 writes:

This is a video documentary taken by a private camcorder on June 17, 2002 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines Main Theater with Philippine pianist, Cecile Licad, performing the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto no. 3 in D minor, Op. 30 with the San Miguel Orchestra under the direction of Rodel Colmenar.

A power outage occurred at the second movement for almost two minutes. Amidst total darkness in the hall, Ms. Licad continued to play until the orchestra recovered when the lights were restored.

Source: http://youtube.com/watch?v=2IXsr3fgzAI

Ms. Cecile Licad will return to the Philippines in 2009 for a concert with cellist Alban Gerhardt.

[ First posted on 08/03/2008 by Manuel Viloria ]