Sergei Rachmaninoff in His Own Words

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) – the most celebrated pianist of his day and the composer of some of the most enduring classics of the entire repertoire. He was, in contrast to the generous expressiveness of his music and his piano-playing, essentially a private person with a famously reserved, unsmiling platform manner. However, in these interviews, collected and annotated here for the first time, he candidly voices his thoughts about his own compositions and the art of playing the piano, his harsh responses to much of the contemporary music around him, reminiscences of his years in Russia and his reactions to living and working in the USA and Switzerland, together with a range of insights into aspects of his professional career and his family life. These interviews reveal fascinating new perspectives on a much-loved composer and musician, and valuable glimpses of what lay behind the public image. Joint edition with the Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation