Rachmaninoff: Piano Works

Featuring

Boris Giltburg
Sergei Rachmaninoff

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Composer Biography

Sergey Rachmaninov, the composer, graduated from the Moscow Conservatory at 19 with the highest honors.

Composer Biography

Rachmaninov came to resent the overwhelming popularity of his C sharp minor Prélude, feeling it overshadowed his other works and that he received no financial benefit from its success due to a lack of international copyright protection in Russia.

Cultural Impact

Rachmaninov's C sharp minor Prélude established his fame abroad and was so popular that audiences demanded it after every concert.

Recording & Production

This album includes two versions of the Mélodie in E major, Op. 3, No. 3: the original 1892 version and the 1940 revised version, which the performer describes as almost a 'cover version' by the mature Rachmaninov.

Composition History

The C sharp minor Prélude is the first occurrence of the 'Dies irae' motif, a medieval plainchant that became a musical idée fixe for Rachmaninov, in his music.

Compositional Technique

Rachmaninov often altered his pieces during performance, and in 1940, he codified some of these changes into revised editions of works like the Mélodie, Op. 3, No. 3, and the Sérénade, Op. 3, No. 5.

Composer Biography

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, a renowned Russian composer and Rachmaninov's mentor, greatly admired his talent and his death devastated Rachmaninov, leading him to compose his Trio élégiaque No. 2 in Tchaikovsky's memory.