Rachmaninov, S.: Cello and Piano Music

Featuring

David Geringas
Ian Fountain
Sergei Rachmaninoff

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Performer Biography

Ian Fountain, the pianist on this recording, became the youngest winner of the Arthur Rubinstein Piano Masters Competition in Tel Aviv at the age of 19 in 1989.

Composer Biography

Rachmaninov sought help from Dr. Nikolai Dahl, a hypnotist and amateur cellist, to overcome his creative crisis, which proved crucial for his recovery and subsequent compositions.

Critical Reception

Rachmaninov's music was often criticized for being out of touch with its time, with one critic in 1938 remarking it could have been played "before gas foot lamps, with horses hitched to carriages outside."

Performer Biography

David Geringas, the cellist on this recording, won the first prize and gold medal at the Tchaikovsky competition in 1970 and has had new works dedicated to him by contemporary composers.

Composer Biography

Anatoli Brandukov, the cellist to whom Rachmaninov dedicated his Cello Sonata, was one of the composer's closest friends and served as his best man at his wedding.

Composition History

Rachmaninov's Cello Sonata and his Second Piano Concerto were both composed after he recovered from a serious creative block following the disastrous premiere of his First Symphony in 1897.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Sergei Rachmaninov, the composer, felt like a "ghost wandering in a world grown alien" because he couldn't abandon his old compositional style or adopt the new one.