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- Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor. Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 3 has one of the most sublime melodies of any piano concerto ever written in its first movement.
- Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor. Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto is widely described as the greatest piano concerto ever written. And listeners of Classic FM tend to agree, voting it right at the top of the Classic FM Hall of Fame every year.
- Vocalise. Even though Rachmaninov’s short piece, Vocalise, was written for solo voice and orchestra originally, it is a song without lyrics. Instead, the singer can opt to perform the sublime melody through any vowel of their choosing.
- Vespers (All-Night Vigil) Rachmaninov’s Vespers, also titled All-Night Vigil, was composed in 1915 and is among the composer’s more introspective works.
- Piano Concerto No.2 in C Minor, Op.18
- Sonata For Cello and Piano in G Minor, Op.19
- 10 Preludes, Op.23
- Symphony No.2 in E Minor, Op.27
- The Isle of The Dead, Op.29
- Piano Concerto No.3 in D Minor, Op.30
- Vocalise, Op.34, No.14
- The Bells, Op.35
- All-Night Vigil, Op.37
- Rhapsody on A Theme of Paganini, Op.43
Following the disastrous premiere of his First Symphony Rachmaninov composed almost nothing for around three years. He sought help from a hypnotherapist and his comeback piece, the Piano Concerto No 2, dedicated to his hypnotherapist, is one of the greatest works in the piano repertoire. The concerto opens with a steadily intensifying series of pia...
After the success of his Op.18 Rachmaninov threw himself into his work. This fine cello sonata appeared not long after the Second Piano Concerto’sconfidence-restoring premiere, its magical ‘Andante’ at times reminiscent of the earlier work’s ‘Adagio’. In the sonata, however, the music feels less at ease, more delicately poised between hope and desp...
Rachmaninov composed 24 piano preludes: one in each major and minor key. The famous C sharp minor Preludecame first, in 1892; the complete Op.23 set followed 11 years later, and the final 13 preludes arrived in 1910. The set of ten Op.23 preludes range widely in mood. Alongside the mysterious opener and the yearning No.4 (with shades of Chopin) are...
The premiere of Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony took place in St Petersburg, the scene of the First Symphonyfiasco. But this time, with Rachmaninov on the podium (rather than a probably drunk Glazunov), things went to plan and the symphony, one of Rachmaninov’s best works, went on to become an audience favourite. Highlights include the athletic ‘Sche...
The Isle Of The Deadwas inspired by an Arnold Böcklin painting in which Charon, the ferryman of the dead in Greek mythology, is seen rowing a coffin across to a spooky island. Rachmaninov’s symphonic poem opens with a repeated five-in-a-bar figure, perhaps representing Charon’s oars pulling through the water. Over the top we hear fragments of the D...
Rachmaninov wrote this concerto for a US tour, using a silent keyboard to learn the piano part on the boat crossing. This, the third piano concerto, is recognizably by the same composer as the second, although it’s longer, more intense, and even tougher to play. The opening piano melody is reasonably laid back, but before long sparks begin to fly. ...
Rachmaninov’s Op.34 consists of 14 songs for voice and piano. Numbers one to 13 employ texts by a selection of big-name Russian poets. Vocalise, on the other hand, is wordless: the performer sings the same vowel sound throughout. This poignant song without words, one of the best Rachmaninov works, has captured the attention of countless composers a...
Rachmaninov’s superb choral symphony is a setting of a Russian adaptation of a poem by Edgar Allan Poe. The poem is handily divided into four sections, focusing on birth, marriage, terror, and death respectively. In turn, each of these life experiences is associated with a type of bell: silver, gold, brass and iron. In the first movement, Rachmanin...
This setting of the Russian Orthodox All-Night Vigil service is scored for unaccompanied choir, with tenor and alto soloists. In nine of the 15 movements, Rachmaninov makes use of traditional Orthodox chants: simple, single-line melodies. The rich harmonies, however, are the composer’s own throughout. He writes for the choir with great freedom: at ...
The last of Nicolò Paganini’s 24 Caprices For Solo Violinhas provided the basis for music by many other composers, including Brahms, Liszt, Lutosławski and Szymanowski (as well as Benny Goodman and Andrew Lloyd-Webber). Rachmaninov’s tribute to his fellow composer-performer is a set of variations for piano and orchestra and is one of Rachmaninov’s ...
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Prélude g minor op. 23 no. 5. As indestructible as Rachmaninoff’s c-sharp-minor Prélude (HN 1211) may be, it is not his only Prélude to have begun a “solo career” of its own: with its rousing rhythms and rhapsodic middle section, the famous piece in g minor certainly takes its place among them. Pianists who aren’t yet ready to tackle ...
- Prelude in C sharp minor Op. 3 No. 2. Although less assertive than his later works, the Prelude in C sharp minor won Rachmaninov much of his early popularity and became a frequently requested encore in concert.
- Piano Concerto Op. 18 No. 2. Rachmaninov composed his second piano concerto after a particularly low period, professionally and emotionally, spurred by the difficult reception of his first symphony.
- Prelude Op. 23 No. 5. One of 24 movements in this cycle, No. 5 is a brief, melodic and delicate Prelude. The floating melody, which gradually gains momentum, shows something of Rachmaninov’s idiomatic piano writing and perhaps even subtle evocations of Debussy’s piano music.
- ‘Bogoroditse devo’ from his All-Night Vigil. This painfully evocative movement is set to the well-known Ave Maria text taken from the Russian Orthodox All-Night Vigil ceremony.
- Martha Argerich & Nelson Freire – Suite No 2 Op 17. A stormy duet performance from these two pianists in Tokyo back in 2003. Argerich appeared on the cover of issue 86 of Pianist.
- Emil Gilels – Vocalise Op 34 No 14 (transcr. Richardson) Enjoy the Soviet pianist's very moving performance here at the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire.
- Yuja Wang – Prelude in G minor Op 23 No 5. The great Yuja Wang gives a dazzling performance at the Philharmonie in Berlin, 2018. The performance features on her live album, The Berlin Recital.
- Vladimir Horowitz – Piano Concerto No 3. We just love this from Horowitz. Marvel in this historic performance, filmed at Avery Fisher Hall, New York, in 1978.
Sergei Bertensson, Jay Leyda. 4.28. 122 ratings13 reviews. Throughout his career as composer, conductor and pianist, Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) was an intensely private individual. When Bertensson and Leyda's 1956 biography first appeared, it lifted the veil from several areas of Rachmaninoff's life, especially the genesis of his ...
To add more books, click here . Sergei Rachmaninoff has 734 books on Goodreads with 579 ratings. Sergei Rachmaninoff’s most popular book is Music Minus One Piano: Rachmaninov Concerto N...
