1873–1943 · Late Romantic

Sergei Rachmaninoff

17 works

Rachmaninoff was born near Staraya Russa in 1873 and studied at the Moscow Conservatory. He conducted at the Bolshoi Theatre from 1904 to 1906, lived in Dresden from 1906 to 1909, and in 1918 settled in New York, touring as a pianist. He died in Beverly Hills in 1943. His melodies are song-like and expressive, his textures can be densely contrapuntal, and his orchestral colour is rich. He drew on Russian Orthodox chant and church bells, and Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov were early influences. The piano is central to his output, and he wrote for it as a performer.

The failure of his First Symphony in 1897 was followed by about three years of depression and writer's block. After therapy with Dr Nikolai Dahl in 1900 he finished the Piano Concerto No. 2 in April 1901 and dedicated it to Dahl. The piano opens alone with bell-like chords, then the strings take the main theme while the piano supplies rapid arpeggios. The Prelude in C-sharp minor, Op. 3 No. 2 (1892), is an earlier bell piece, said to evoke the Kremlin chimes. Concerto No. 3 (1909) has two versions of the first-movement cadenza, one chordal and one lighter.

The Isle of the Dead (1909), after Böcklin's painting, rocks in a recurring 5/8 figure suggesting oars or waves and quotes the Dies irae chant. Symphony No. 2 (1906 to 1907) builds on a motto theme that returns across the movements; its Scherzo uses the Dies irae and its Adagio has a long clarinet solo. The Études-Tableaux (study-pictures), Op. 39, date from 1916 to 1917.

What to listen for

Bell sounds: the opening chords of Concerto No. 2 and the chime-like opening of the C-sharp minor Prelude.
A long, song-like melody carried by the strings or the clarinet while the piano or other instruments accompany around it.
The Dies irae chant, which the Isle of the Dead quotes, the Scherzo of Symphony No. 2 uses and the opening of the Vocalise alludes to.
In Symphony No. 2, the motto theme returning in different movements and the long clarinet solo of the Adagio.
In Concerto No. 3, the first-movement cadenza, which can be heard in a heavy chordal version or in a lighter, toccata-like one.

Sources: Sergei Rachmaninoff (Wikipedia), Piano Concerto No. 2 (Rachmaninoff) (Wikipedia), Piano Concerto No. 3 (Rachmaninoff) (Wikipedia), Prelude in C-sharp minor (Rachmaninoff) (Wikipedia), Isle of the Dead (Rachmaninoff) (Wikipedia), Symphony No. 2 (Rachmaninoff) (Wikipedia), Etudes-Tableaux, Op. 39 (Wikipedia)