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Classical | Label: Naxos | 2CD

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In my own compositions, no conscious effort has been made to be original, or Romantic or Nationalistic, or anything else. I write down on paper the music I hear within me, as naturally as possible...What I try to do, when writing down my music, is to make it say simply and directly that which is in my heart when I am composing.~Sergey Rachmaninov

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Rachmaninov as Pianist

There is no doubt that Rachmaninov owed a great deal to his teacher, Nikolay Sergeyevich Zverev, who taught at the Moscow Conservatory from 1870 until his death in 1893 and provided the young Rachmaninov with the necessary degree of discipline in strict routine practice. Zverev was himself a pupil of Alexander Ivanovich Dubuque, who, in turn, had been a pupil of John Field. The routine of the day began, at Zverev's, with practice at six o'clock in the morning and continuing practice once Zverev had left for his Conservatory classes at nine. It was with Zverev that Rachmaninov acquired his own excellent technical foundation, continued under Zverev's former pupil Ziloti at the Conservatory from 1888. It is true that Rachmaninov rebelled against his teacher, finding that he needed peace to concentrate rather on composition, moving to lodge with his relations, the Satins. Because of Ziloti's resignation from the Conservatory, he took his final piano examinations a year early, in 1891, passing with honours. Thereafter he was able to concentrate on composition.

In Russia Rachmaninov enjoyed a varied career. He appeared as a pianist, but principally in his own works, and had a parallel and more important career as a conductor and composer. This came to an end with the Revolution and his departure abroad. In exile it became apparent to him that the only means he now had of supporting himself and his family was as a concert pianist. His repertoire had been relatively limited. He had a few concertos, including Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No.1, which he had played in 1917 in aid of the revolutionary army, and some works of Chopin and Liszt, in addition to his own works. Moving almost immediately from Stockholm to Denmark, he set about improving his technique and consolidating his repertoire. In the following months in Scandinavia he appeared as soloist in his own Piano Concerto No.2, Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No.1 and Liszt's Piano Concerto No.1 and gave recitals of his own compositions. By the autumn of 1918 he found himself able to give a more balanced recital programme, with music ranging from Mozart and Schubert to Tchaikovsky.

It soon became clear to Rachmaninov that America was likely to provide the engagements and rewards he now needed. He gave the first of what were to be many American concerts in December 1918. He had acquired the support of Steinway's and a competent manager and soon found himself with a series of 36 engagements for his first season and some seventy for the next one. The process seemed to continue inexorably, with season after season, and periods of rest and preparation intervening in the summer months. In 1920 he came to an agreement with the Victor Talking Machine Company, later owned by RCA, and was able to record, over the years, much of his own repertoire. As time went on, he was later able to reduce the number of his American engagements, moving back to Europe, which remained essentially his home until 1939, when he found it prudent to return permanently 10 America once more. His American tours remained an essential part of his life until his death in 1943.

As a pianist Rachmaninov was an intelligent, thoughtful and careful performer, meticulous in his preparation. He had large hands, able to span a chord of a thirteenth with the left hand and with a remarkable stretch also in the left, spanning a tenth by taking the lower note with the first finger and the upper note by thumb-crossing. He was always aware of a sense of direction in what he played and of a point of culmination, of whatever kind, the whole executed with impeccable precision, a fine singing tone, where this was called for, rhythmic energy and a clarity of definition, even in passages of great complexity.

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