Overview
Rachmaninoff’s work was scorned by the musical establishment as hopelessly old-fashioned and emotionally over-indulgent but never failed to find popular acclaim—including being used as the soundtrack to the film Brief Encounter. Who was this taciturn genius? This book investigates Rachmaninoff’s intense and melodramatic life.
Synopsis
Rachmaninoff’s work was scorned by the musical establishment as hopelessly old-fashioned and emotionally over-indulgent but never failed to find popular acclaim—including being used as the soundtrack to the film Brief Encounter. Who was this taciturn genius? This book investigates Rachmaninoff’s intense and melodramatic life.
Bruce R. Schueneman - Library Journal
Scott's (founder, London Opera Society; The Great Caruso) book on pianist-composer Sergey 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). The strength of Scott's book is in the numerous quotations from Rachmaninoff's letters; however, Rachmaninoff's life is of interest because of his music. Martyn and Harrison offer superior examinations of Rachmaninoff's music, and Robert Walker's popular biography (sans footnotes) Rachmaninoff has the advantage of many illustrations (Martyn's and Harrison's books also have illustrations)-inexplicably, Scott's has none. For a general treatment of Rachmaninoff's life and music, Harrison's book is the best. Recommended for libraries specializing in music or Russian materials.
Editorials
Library Journal
Scott's (founder, London Opera Society; The Great Caruso) book on pianist-composer Sergey 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). The strength of Scott's book is in the numerous quotations from Rachmaninoff's letters; however, Rachmaninoff's life is of interest because of his music. Martyn and Harrison offer superior examinations of Rachmaninoff's music, and Robert Walker's popular biography (sans footnotes) Rachmaninoff has the advantage of many illustrations (Martyn's and Harrison's books also have illustrations)-inexplicably, Scott's has none. For a general treatment of Rachmaninoff's life and music, Harrison's book is the best. Recommended for libraries specializing in music or Russian materials.
—Bruce R. Schueneman