What better way to try and understand a composer and his works than by understanding and examining his life? What hides behind his compositions, and his style? Why were some things written when they were and how did it all add up to a certain composition? Can knowing about a life reveal all these details? I’ll try to answer some of these questions in a series of videos about one of my favorite composers’ life – Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff.
Constantly swaying between struggles and successes, between tragedies and great accomplishments, Sergei Rachmaninoff did not always have an easy life – quite the contrary! As we’ll see, “the last of the romantics” as history remembers him had quite a tumultuous upbringing and life.
In this part, we will talk about Rachmaninoff conducting a private opera, his encounter with Leo Tolstoy the great Russian writer and how he got over the depression caused by his first symphony and wrote his now famous second piano concerto.
Enjoy part 4 of the story of Sergei Rachmaninoff.
