Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2, Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini

Rubinstein (2021 Remastered, Chicago 1956)

1 disc(s) - 4 track(s)
Total length: 00:56:23

The circumstances surrounding the composition of Rachmaninoff s Concerto No. 2 are by now so well known that they barely need restatement here. The failure of his Symphony No. I at its premiere in 1897— owing largely to the ineptitude of the conductor, not to any flaws in the work itself—sent Rachmaninoff into serious creative despair. Finally he sought therapy from a Dr. Nikolai Dahl, who practiced a primitive form of autosuggestion on the composer.

It is likely that Dr. Dahl, as an amateur violinist and a man of considerable human sympathies, personally influenced Rachmaninoff as much as did his medical treatment. It was not  long before Rachmaninoff embarked on his Second Concerto, completing the second and third movements in the autumn of 1900. A year later the entire work was premiered with outstanding success, and its publication bore a dedication to Dr. Dahl.

After his exile from Russia following the Bolshevik Revolution, Rachmaninoff launched a new career as a concert pianist, maintaining homes in the United States and in Switzerland. His output as a composer diminished in quantity but not quality, and in the summer of 1934 he  quickly wrote a set of 24 variations for piano and orchestra based on the last of Niccolò Paganini's solo violin caprices. 

He chose to label the  piece "Rhapsody" rather than merely "Variations"; a clever inversion of the Paganini theme, transposed to D-flat Major, forms the famous 18th Variation, whose impact calls to mind the sweeping melodic writing of   many of his earlier works. Rachmaninoff himself gave the premiere in Baltimore on November 7, 1934.

Enjoy your listening

1. Piano Concerto No.2 in C minor, Op. 18: I. Moderato (2021 Remastered, Chicago 1956)
2. Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18: II. Adagio sostenuto (2021 Remastered, Chicago 1956)
3. Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18: III. Allegro scherzando (2021 Remastered, Chicago 1956)
4. Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43 (2021 Remastered, Chicago 1956)