The piece
In Rachmaninoff's Second Concerto, first heard in Moscow in 1901, the piano's chords soon give way to a long song in C minor, given to the orchestra's strings while the soloist surrounds them with waves of arpeggios. This easy version, written for Noctave, keeps that first theme as Vincent G. Stoks's arrangement for piano solo gives it, then the cadence that ends it and a C minor chord.
The right hand plays only the tune, one note at a time, nearly always around middle C: hold the dotted half notes fully, as they sing under the orchestra like a voice. The left hand plays two notes in each half bar, the bass and then a note of the chord, in quarters: keep them even and soft. The second time, the theme returns louder and climbs to the A-flat (bar 13): let that note bloom before you come back down.
