What makes this so dramatic is the fact that in the concerto they played first, the pianist is supposed to enter dramatically in the second measure. The pianis

What makes this so dramatic is the fact that in the concerto they played first, the pianist is supposed to enter dramatically in the second measure. The pianist had less than a second to figure out that the orchestra was playing Rachmaninoff instead of Tchaikovsky, and make his big entrance. He didn't react quickly enough, and he missed his entrance. This may have cost him the prize. Afterwards, the organizers offered to let the pianist repeat his performance, but he was too upset to do so. If it had been the other way around, and the pianist had been expecting Rachmaninoff but the orchestra had played Tchaikovsky first, it would not have been as serious. In Tchaikovsky's first piano concerto, there's a long introduction by the orchestra before the piano enters.