Quoth Nathan:
"...(such as Rhapsody on a
Theme by Paginini being the crucial Rachmaninoff
work--that's news to musicians)..."
I have noticed
this... if pressed I'd probably say that his Second Piano
Concerto was the "crucial" work, though of course that's
entirely open for debate... (not by me, though... I'm no
expert.) Perhaps the difference is that the Second
Concerto has no "name", and it's rough to write a question
in which a work is only described as "Second Piano
Concerto" (as opposed to "Eroica" or "Brandenburg
Concertos")... on the other hand, many others have composed
variations on the same theme -- in fact, Paganini's original
was in the form of a Theme and Variations... so maybe
it _is_ due to Benet's... not having heard of
Kleist, unfortunately I can't judge what might be going
on there...
--nielsen