Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 1 in F-Sharp Minor, 14 Songs & Études-tableaux (Live)

Featuring

Volker Hartung
Oleg Poliansky
Junge Philharmonie Köln
Sergei Rachmaninoff

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Composer Biography

Sergei Rachmaninoff composed his Piano Concerto No. 1 at the young age of 17 while a student at the Moscow Conservatory.

Compositional Technique

Rachmaninoff's Études-Tableaux are a unique genre combining the concert etude with the tone poem for piano, often inspired by secret programmatic ideas.

Composer Biography

Rachmaninoff was one of the last composers who was also a significant virtuoso performer and conductor, leaving extensive recordings of his piano abilities.

Composition History

Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 1 was thoroughly revised in 1917, shortly before his exile, with a highly refined instrumentation.

Composer Biography

Rachmaninoff's childhood was marked by hardship, including his father squandering the family fortune, his sister's death from diphtheria, and his parents' separation.

Performer Biography

Oleg Poliansky, the pianist on this album, is a prizewinner of numerous international competitions, including the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1998.

Critical Reception

Despite his successful revision of the First Piano Concerto, Rachmaninoff feared it would not be popular, noting that audiences preferred his Second or Third Concertos.