Complete Preludes, Op. 3, 23, 32: Schirmer Library of Classics Volume 2001 Piano Solo

These are such as beautiful preludes and at the same time quite the pain in the rear! I am a proficient sight-reader so playing one of these from start to end prove to end in under 45 minutes, but having the counterpoint as similar in Bach's music and polyrhythm from say, Debussy - it is a skill and showcase of the difficulty to master the dynamics of one of these preludes (as is with any other piece) but even more so with Rachmaninoff. After being able to master just one measure, you feel as if you've truly accomplished one of the many difficulties that great pianists like Horowitz and Rubenstein had overcome themselves. This is a wonderful book and will teach you a thing or two of Russian music as well as build upon your foundation of music theory! (These pieces are excellent to pick apart for theory study, so there's another reason I would recommend this book to any pianist!)

Thank you for delivering this book on time! I looked and looked and yours was the only book shop that had it. I am enjoying Rachmaninoff now.

Reasonable pricing

This is what you would expect from a Schirmer book-- good paper stock, clear printing. As noted in the reviews from other purchasers most of the preludes do not have fingering, but the famous Opus 3 prelude has fingering, and a few of the others have some minimal fingering. These preludes are for advanced players, but amateurs like myself can still enjoy playing the Opus 3, and the Opus 23 #5, preludes, and have fun trying to run through some of the others. I'm happy with my purchase.

I had this edition from the 1970s but it yellowed then fell apart. I was stunned at the quality of the modern day version. Better paper and better print. Frankly I typically only see this clarity in Henle editions. Great music, more accessible than you'd imagine. Highly recommended.

The Rachmaninoff Preludes were very challenging. I have to practice my piano cadences and parallel motion and contrary motion on piano to better play Rachmaninoff's piano pieces. Thanks Amazon.

I don't know why or how this could even happen but there are multiple wrong and missing notes in the music! I was practicing Op3 No 2 in C# minor and noticed that the recordings I was listening to didn't quite sound the same to my playing, so I investigated and realized that in bar 6 page 1 and bar 1 last page, what are marked as D naturals in the left hand chords should be actually D sharp! And there are multiple missing notes in the left hand chords in the final section. I checked different recordings by different pianists (Kissin, Ashkenazy, and even a piano roll recording by Rachmaninoff himself!) just to be sure as well as different versions of sheets, and they all point to the inevitable truth that this book has terrible mistakes. I am perplexed as to how these mistakes even happened. It's so frustrating that after I have memorized the entire piece I realize that what I had been playing was in fact wrong. Do not recommend!

Great compositions for very advanced students. The print is very clear. Thank you.

Format is large and clear. It's for piano only and will be a great challenge.

Printing is clear with no smudges and well layed out. Great for piano players looking for Rachmaninoff's pieces for exams and to explore his intricate piano works

To be used more than once! :)A good collection. Fingering is somewhat sparse; not overly prescriptive. The first measure of page 4 has an unfortunate error.

A good price for the amount of music you get. But don't be misled by the name. It is not complete Op. 3 - I guess technically not all of Op. 3 are Preludes. So it only includes Op. 3 no 2. Complete set of Op 23 and 32.

It's a great book but ruined when the delivery driver bent it in half to get through my letterbox.