No piano concerto is really “easy,” at least to folks who aren’t classical music virtuosos with decades of practice, but Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30 is known for being one of the most technically demanding pieces in the canon. Noted American pianist Gary Graffman was once quoted saying, ominously, that he was glad he learned the piece while he was a student and “still too young to know fear.” Eep! Completed and first performed by Rachmaninoff himself in 1909, it will be performed by another Russian—pianist Nikolai Lugansky—alongside the Pacific Symphony, this week at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. Keep in mind, Lugansky is a trained professional; don’t try it at home.
Feb. 5-7, 8 p.m., 2009
