Rachmaninoff's Second Symphony was considered "slightly over-long for the general audience" at its 1908 St Petersburg premiere, but also praised as "fresh" and "beautiful."
Composition History
Rachmaninoff drafted his Second Symphony in a garden villa in Dresden, Germany, where his family had settled in late 1906.
Composer Biography
Rachmaninoff's First Symphony premiere in 1897 was so poorly received that it silenced him creatively for three years.
Composition History
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, the famous Russian composer, intended to conduct Rachmaninoff's The Rock on his next tour but died before he could fulfill his promise.
Composition History
Rachmaninoff's orchestral fantasy The Rock was inspired by both Mikhail Lermontov's poem "The Rock" and Anton Chekhov's short story "On the Road."
Recording & Production
This recording uses 24-bit technology, which offers a dynamic range up to 48 dB greater and 256 times the resolution of standard 16-bit recordings.
Composition History
Rachmaninoff initially found his Second Symphony "terribly boring and repulsive," writing to his friend Nikita Morozov of a "mood of anguish, apathy and disgust."
You might also enjoy...
Franck: Symphony in D Minor & Rédemption
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 & The Voyevoda
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 - Francesca da Rimini
Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 2 / The Rock, Op. 7
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 & Romeo and Juliet, Fantasy-Overture
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 / Romeo and Juliet
Sergei Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 2 - Caprice Bohèmien
Rachmaninoff: The Isle of the Dead & Symphony No. 1
Tchaikovsky, P.I.: Symphony No. 6, "Pathetique" / Francesca Da Rimini
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 & Romeo & Juliet
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 "Pathétique"; Romeo and Juliet
