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Sergei Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 3, The Bells

4/1/2016, 7 Tracks, 1:17:59

Featuring

  • Kirill Kondrashin
  • Van Cliburn
  • Elisabetta Shumskaya
  • Mikhail Dovenman
  • Alexei Bolshakov
  • Symphony of the Air
  • Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra
  • Republican Russian Academic Choir Capella
  • Sergei Rachmaninoff

Did you know?

1/7

Performer Biography

Van Cliburn's victory at the 1958 Tchaikovsky Competition earned him a ticker-tape parade in New York City, the only time this honor has been accorded to a classical musician.

Source: Booklet

Performer Biography

Van Cliburn, the American pianist, won the first International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1958, an event designed to demonstrate Soviet cultural superiority during the Cold War.

Source: Booklet

Composer Biography

Rachmaninoff considered his Piano Concerto No. 3 to be his favorite among his piano concertos, stating he preferred it because his Second was "so uncomfortable to play."

Source: Booklet

Composer's Artistic Vision

In The Bells, Rachmaninoff used four types of bell sounds to symbolize the four main stages of human life: sleigh bells for baptism, wedding bells for marriage, alarm bells for fires, and iron bells for death.

Source: Booklet

Composition History

Rachmaninoff's choral symphony, The Bells, was inspired by an anonymous letter containing a Russian translation of Edgar Allan Poe's poem, which was later discovered to be from a cello student.

Source: Booklet

Recording & Production

The performance of Rachmaninoff's 3rd Piano Concerto on this album was recorded live at Carnegie Hall in New York on May 19, 1958, shortly after Van Cliburn's Tchaikovsky Competition win.

Source: Booklet

Composer Biography

Kirill Kondrashin, the conductor on this album, was born into a family of orchestral musicians; his mother was a violinist and his father played the viola.

Source: Booklet

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Rubinstein: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 and 4
Saint-Saëns: Piano Concertos Nos. 1, 2 & 4
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No.2 / Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No.1
Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2
Camille Saint-Saëns: Piano Concertos Vol. I
Rachmaninov: Concertos Para Piano No. 2 em Dó Menor, Op. 18 e No. 4 em Sol Menor, Op. 40
Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-Flat Minor, Op. 23
©℗ 2016 Praga Digitals