Introduction
1. Before the beginning
2. The family breaks up
3. Zveref and Moscow
4. Composition starts
5. The break with Zveref
6. To Ivanovka
7. More compositions
8. Towards graduation
9. Aleko and the graduation
10. First moves as 'Free Artist'
11. More productions and Tchaikovsky's death
12. The long road to Symphony No. 1
13. A symphony misunderstood
14. London visit, Moscow cure
15. The Crimea, Italy, Concerto No. 2
16. Composition concludes and there is a marriage
17. Variations, Preludes and a child is born
18. Two operas
19. An abortive revolution, the operas produced
20. Sonata, Symphony, part of an opera
21. The Isle of the Dead and Concerto No. 3
22. America and the Liturgy
23. 1910, more preludes, more conducting
24. Etudes Tableaux, Marietta Shaginian, more songs
25. The Bells and a last sonata
26. World War I, All-Night Vigil, last songs
27. Final composing in Russia, escape from Petrograd
28. The expatriate artist: first concerts, first recordings
29. Rachmaninoff fully established
30. Two more seasons, more recordings
31. Concerto No. 4, Chansons Russes
32. Rachmaninoff the pianist
33. Classic recordings and orchestration by another
34. Senar and LaFolia
35. Rapsodie, Sympony No. 3
36. Four more seasons, major recordings
37. Symphonic Dances
38. Last recordings, a final tour
39. Envoi
Appendices: Chronological list of works
Classified list of works
Discography
Bibliography
Index
A comprehensive biography of the virtuoso pianist and legendary composer of piano symphonies
Max Harrison is a musicologist who reviewed for The Times and The Gramophone from 1967-90, has written widely on jazz, and contributed to the 1980 edition of The New Grove Dictionary of Music and other reference works.
'It is so satisfying to have another important book about this
great composer - it is comprehensive and well researched. Max
Harrison writes with passion and intelligence - highly
recommended'. Vladimir Ashkenazy, President of the Rachmaninoff
Society
'Max Harrison slices through a century's worth of wrongheaded
critical bluster and rediscovers the music of a major composer.
Essential reading' - Terry Teachout
"Harrison transcends the already considerable available
scholarship on Rachmaninoff with this perspicuous work which allows
the reader not only to understand how the political and practical
realities of the musician's circumstances helped direct the course
of his life and livelihood, but how his creative existence evolved.
By avoiding overly technical discussions when analyzing
Rachmaninoff's compositions, the author is able to communicate his
ideas to a broad musical audience." -CHOICE, July 2006
'his knowledge both of the repertoire and of other painters are
impressive...he covers everything, and enthusiastically defends the
originality of Rachmaniov's later works...Three stars...for
diligence.' ~ David Nice, BBC Music Magazine
*David Nice*
"[A] compelling narrative...'A composer's music...should be the sum
total of a composer's experience.' Rachmaninov once claimed. After
reading this biography you should be left in no doubt as to that
statement's veracity."
*Julian Haylock, Classic FM Magazine*
''A widely published musical journalist, Max Harrison writes in a
cultivated and comfortable British English... pleasingly free from
jargon'' ''Harrison seems to have set himself the task of not only
presenting the chronology and circumstances of Rachmaninoff's life
and works with scrupulous clarity and care but also to refute the
denigration of Rachmaninoff's original works that became
fashionable when the composer settled in the U.S. after feeling the
Bolshevik Revolution'' Dennis D. Rooney, ARSC Journal,
Spring 2007
"[Michael] Scott's (founder, London Opera Society; The Great
Caruso) book on pianist-composer Sergey Rachmaninoff [Rachmaninoff]
is almost entirely biographical, unlike Barrie Martyn's
Rachmaninoff: Composer, Pianist, Conductor and Max Harrison's
Rachmaninoff: Life, Works, Recordings, which combine biography with
musical analysis (both have musical examples, but Scott's book does
not)...Martyn and Harrison offer superior examinations of
Rachmaninoff's music...Martyn's and Harrison's books also have
illustrations...For a general treatment of Rachmaninoff's life and
music, Harrison's book is the best." -Bruce R. Schueneman, Library
Journal, February 1, 2009
"an impressive achievement, the result of meticulous research and a
long, deep association with its subject...Its tone is crisp,
energetic and omniscient...no one who is interested in any aspect
of this great musician's legacy can afford to miss Harrison's
engaging, scholarly and, yes, inspiring biography."
*Jeremy Nicholas, Gramophone*
"Max Harrison's comprehensive biography treats the life, works and
recordings exactly as stated in the subtitle. A chronological
survey of all three together in the course of thirty-nine
relatively short chapters, supplemented by a section of fifty-four
musical examples similarly ordered, a list of works both by
chronological order and classification, an abbreviated discography
and the bibliography. By keeping the chapters short, it is easy to
peruse the reference notes at the end of each one. These are almost
all explanatory and entertainingly informative widely published
musical journalist. Max Harrison writes in a cultivated and
comfortable British English. It is pleasingly free of jargon...
Harrison sees to have set himself the task of presenting the
chronology and circumstances of Rachmaninoff's life and works with
scrupulous clarity and care.... Rachmaninoff's reputation was never
in danger even in the final decades of his life, and both
recordings and conductors who enjoy programming what audiences wish
to hear have made its creative output better known and more highly
esteemed than ever. Most composers' reputations bottom out a
century after their birth but Rachmaninoff's is greater than
ever.For readers of this journal, Rachmaninoff's own recordings
will be a central interest. Harrison discusses each one in more
detail than is usual. Particularly valuable is his discussion of
the duplication of repertoire. He compares both the published
recordings with the series of the piano rolls that Rachmaninoff
recorded for Ampico during the twenties."
*ARSC Journal*
"Anyone deeply interested in the music of Rachmanimov who would
like to really know about the Russian master's composition process
will find Rachmaninov:Life, Works, Recordings to be of great
interest." "there's no doubt that Harrison knows
Rachmaninov's music in detail" "An intense and in-depth
read, this is a book for real Rachmaninov aficionados."
Pianist, No. 37, August-September 2007
*Pianist*
Nominated as a finalist for the Association for Recorded Sound
Collections, Classical shortlist.
*Finalists for the 2006 ARSC Awards for Excellence*
"The general excellence of this 'life and works' is greatly
enhanced by generous coverage of Rachmaninov's parallel careers as
pianist and conductor. Compared to other notable biographers,
Harrison provides a more comprehensive portrait of Rachmaninov the
all round musician"
*Classical Music, Philip Borg - Wheeler*
"Sergei Rachmaninov's three-dimensional career as pianist,
conductor, and composer receives the most comprehensive scholarly
analysis to date in this work by Mark Harrison. Harrison's
own trisection of Rachmaninov-life, works, and recordings-address
and surpasses the common themes of biographers and, via remarkable
descriptions of compositions and performances preserved on sound
recordings, transports the reader to concert halls and recording
studios where Rachmaninov performed."—Lois Alexander, University of
Michigan-Flint, Slavic and East European Journal, 51.4, Winter
2007
*Lois Alexander*
'Not only sculpts a crystal clear figure of Rachmaninoff the man,
but also refines the transcript of his working life...we should,
therefore, be indebted to Harrison for directing us to what is now
a full colour portrait of an artist drawn through the visions of
his creative self.'
*Ham and High*
'Harrison's work is admirable... his research is exhaustive and
wide-ranging... Harrison is a man with a mission to make us take
Rachmaninoff's music more seriously... a book to be treasured by
all... it is impossible to read it without reflecting that its
subject has been comprehensively misunderstood; Harrison's work
takes a major step to putting that situation right and doing
justice to the composer and his music.'
*International Piano*
'A useful addition to the literature on someone who has finally
become one of the most respected, if retrospective, 20th-Century
composers.'
*Irish Times, The*
'This new study of Rachmaninoff by Max Harrison betokens a
lifetime's study of this great composer and pianist, and is
extended beyond the customary life and works framework to embrace
Rachmaninoff's extensive recorded legacy, which, as time goes by,
should become an essential part of any discussions of the life and
works of those composers who have made recordings of their own
music. The result is a welcome addition to the growing
appreciation of Rachmaninoff's genius. Max Harrison wears his
scholarship lightly, producing an eminently readable text which
unveils the story of Rachmaninoff clearly and interestingly. His
comments on the music and especially on Rachmaninoff's extensive
recordings are particularly insightful, and add much to our
understanding of them...very well-researched book...This
excellently-produced book is much to be commended, and is most
reasonably priced.'
*Musical Opinion*
'...an honest, enormously detailed and very interesting book on a
fascinating subject.'
*Rachmaninoff Society Newsletter*
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