Question by Piano Player: Why are the Rachmaninoff Etudes numbered diffirently?
On some cd’s and Youtube video’s the Rach Etudes are numbered differently, for exam when you type in “Etude op 33 n5” you get the Presto one, but also a diffirent one, the Moderato. Why is that?
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Answer by Nemesis
Prior to their first publication in 1914, Rachmaninoff suppressed a number of the op.33 études, being the ‘Grave’ in c-minor (#3, of August 18, 1911), the ‘Allegro’ in a-minor (#4, of September 8, 1911) and the ‘Moderato’ in d-minor (#5, of September 11, 1911).
Of these, the deleted #4 from op.33 re-emerged as #6 of the second, op.39 cycle of études of 1917. The remaining ‘deletions’, i.e. #3 and #5 from the original op.33, were not published until 1948, i.e. 5 years after the composer’s death, by Muzgiz.
Consequently the numbering systems for the Études Tableaux shift by two positions depending on whether the artist and/or recording Co. etc choose to re-insert the two published in 1948 — including the #5 you’re concerned about — back where they belonged in the original, 1911 conception of op.33, or not.
All the best,
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