Rachmaninoff - Moment Musicaux No. 4 (Left Hand Alone)

The original is one of my favorite classical pieces to play and listen to (particularly Lugansky's version). Because of the similarities to Chopin's Revolutionary Etude + Godowsky's LH alone arrangement of it, I was inspired to make this.

I had several drafts of this in early 2021 but had difficulties keeping it practical... it was good to finally finish this. Though the first A section was straightforward to arrange, most of the challenge came in the second half, where, in the original, the left and right hand inevitably diverge to the opposite ends of the keyboard. For one hand, being at both ends simultaneously was clearly impossible, and constantly taking huge leaps would be tiring. It was a constant battle of sacrificing portions without watering down the piece. In the end I reserved huge, fast leaps for certain dramatic moments of the piece. The rest of the leaps are about the same as those in the original. Perhaps there are better optimizations, but this current version, to me, is good enough. Lastly, it's probably necessary to take a slower tempo, though I kept it presto in this video. The end result is something that bears much similarity to the original, extending several existing LH patterns.

Edit: fixed a couple notes in the sheet

Sheet music: https://musescore.com/user/28468108/scores/8267093

Видео Rachmaninoff - Moment Musicaux No. 4 (Left Hand Alone) канала PacBac - Piano Arrangements