Rakhmaninov

the long version

Rakhmaninov [Rachmaninov] was a true master musician. Arguably the finest pianist of his day and renowned also as a conductor, he was, as a composer, one of the most prominent figures of Russian late Romanticism. This study aims not only to reassess the solo piano music and concertos for which Rakhmaninov is best known, but also to emphasize for example the skill of orchestral coloring in his symphonic pieces and the sensitive response to words which he reveals in his choral works, operas and unduly neglected songs. Drawing on Rakhmaninov's letters and the reminiscences of contemporaries, the author offers an insight into his curiously secretive approach to composition, and into the idyllically happy family life and the warmth of personality which were so often belied by the austerity of his concert manner.