Dmitry Yablonsky, the conductor and cellist on this album, was born into a musical family in Moscow and made his orchestral debut at age nine playing Haydn's Cello Concerto in C major.
Composition History
Rachmaninov's creative block was treated by neurologist Nikolai Dahl through hypnosis and autosuggestion, leading to the composition of his Second Piano Concerto.
Composer Biography
Sergey Rachmaninov's grandfather was an amateur pianist who studied with John Field, and Rachmaninov himself began piano studies at age nine at the St. Petersburg Conservatory.
Composition History
Rachmaninov's First Symphony premiere in 1897 was a disaster, leading to a three-year depression and creative block for the composer.
Composition History
Rachmaninov's Vocalise, a wordless song, is part of his Opus 34 set of Fourteen Songs, where he intended to set texts with a "sad rather than happy" mood.
Compositional Technique
The Second Symphony's Scherzo movement features a variant of the Gregorian Dies Irae chant, a theme associated with death that obsessed Rachmaninov and appeared in several of his works.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Rachmaninov felt like a 'ghost wandering in a world grown alien,' unable to abandon his old writing style or adopt new musical manners.
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