Rakhmaninov (Hardcover)

This volume forms part of the "Life and Times" series of compact and accessible biographies which cover key political, literary and musical figures. This title is about the life and work of Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943), usually considered to be the last musical expression of Romanticism. Born in Novgorod, Russia, he studied piano from the age of six under Tchaikovsky. In 1892, he established his own reputation as a composer with the "Prelude in C-sharp Minor" and later, after the 1917 Revolution, he emigrated to the US. In the West, he devoted himself to playing the piano and conducting, and became renowned for the cold stoicism of his performances and the complexity of his piano concerti. Musical historians are divided between those who declare his music overly sentimental and those who maintain that his significance cannot be overstated.