12/05/2026
More than a century ago, Sergei Rachmaninoff already emphasized the importance of structural musical understanding: the ability to perceive the larger relationships and lines of tension within a composition. His words somewhat recall what Jorge Bolet would later describe as “playing from one point of arrival to the next.”
“REAL MUSICAL UNDERSTANDING” — Sergei Rachmaninoff (1910)
“I am told that some teachers lay a great deal of stress upon the necessity for the pupil learning the source of the composer's inspiration. This is interesting, of course, and may help to stimulate a dull imagination. However, I am convinced that it would be far better for the student to depend more upon his real musical understanding. It is a mistake to suppose that the knowledge of the fact that Schubert was inspired by a certain poem, or that Chopin was inspired by a certain legend, could ever make up for a lack of the real essentials leading to good pianoforte playing. The student must see, first of all, the main points of musical relationship in a composition. He must understand what it is that gives the work unity, cohesion, force, or grace, and must know how to bring out these elements. There is a tendency with some teachers to magnify the importance of auxiliary studies and minimize the importance of essentials. This course is wrong, and must lead to erroneous results.”
— Sergei Rachmaninoff, The Etude, 28 March 1910.
