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Sergei Rachmaninov

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Sergei Rachmaninov · Sergei Rachmaninoff was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist and conductor. He was born in 1873 into a noble family with a fondness for music and the army. At the age of four he received piano lessons from his mother, and later he studied piano and composition at the Moscow Conservatory, from which he graduated in 1892. He was regarded as one of the best pianists of his time.

Music and breakthrough

In 1897 the premiere of his first symphony was a miserable failure. Rachmaninoff fell into a depression lasting four years and hardly wrote anything, until, thanks to supportive therapy, he completed the Second Piano Concerto in 1901, which was very well received. From 1904 to 1906 he was a conductor at the Bolshoi Theatre, after which he moved to Dresden. In 1909 he made his first tour of the United States. After the Russian Revolution he left Russia for good and settled in New York in 1918. After that he was mainly a concert pianist and wrote only six more works. He died in 1943 in Beverly Hills.

Influence

His music is late Romantic, with long, singing melodies, a great deal of feeling, a dense texture and a rich orchestral sound. The piano plays a leading role in his work, as in the piano concertos, the Third Piano Concerto and the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. He also wrote the orchestral piece The Isle of the Dead, the Symphony no. 2 and 24 preludes for piano. Rachmaninoff is regarded as one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music. His melodies have also often been borrowed in pop music and film.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to the beginning of the Piano Concerto no. 2: the piano opens alone, with heavy, slowly swelling chords, before the orchestra enters with the great melody.

Discography

Studio albums

Categories: Artists