Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 2 in E Minor, Op. 27 & Vocalise

Featuring

Dmitri Kitajenko
Valer Barna-Sabadus
Gürzenich-Orchester Köln
Sergei Rachmaninoff

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Composition History

Rachmaninoff dedicated his Second Piano Concerto to Nikolai Dahl, a Moscow neurologist and psychiatrist who helped him overcome his self-doubts with hypnosis therapy.

Critical Reception

Critics praised Rachmaninoff's Second Symphony, with Yuli Engel calling him 'the worthy successor of Tchaikovsky' and noting his 'completely personal handwriting'.

Compositional Technique

The Second Symphony features a 22-bar-long clarinet cantilena in its Adagio movement, considered one of the most beautiful melodies Rachmaninoff ever created.

Performer Biography

Dmitrij Kitajenko, the conductor on this album, was named Conductor Laureate of the Gürzenich Orchestra of Cologne in 2009, a title previously held only by Günter Wand.

Composer Biography

Sergei Rachmaninoff suffered a severe depression for almost three years after the catastrophic failure of his First Symphony's premiere in 1897.

Composition History

Rachmaninoff moved to Dresden with his family in 1906 to find the peace necessary for composing, describing their life there as 'like hermits'.

Composition History

Rachmaninoff's Second Symphony was premiered on January 26, 1908, in Saint Petersburg, followed by the Moscow premiere a week later, both met with enormous success.