Composer Of The Week

150 years ago this week, Sergei Rachmaninov was born: one of the finest pianists of his generation, touring the world in the 1920s and 30s as a musical megastar. Composing had been his real passion since childhood, and towards the end of his time in Russia before the Revolution, it was farming. Though St Petersburg and then Moscow was his base for much of his early life, it was Ivanovka – a country estate deep in the Russian countryside - that formed him. The house and the land surrounding it were a major source of his creative inspiration until his last visit in 1917. Donald Macleod explores how important Ivanovka was to Rachmaninov, and how he carried the precious memory of it with him when he left it behind for a life of exile.Music Featured:Lilacs op 21, No 5, ‘Siren’ Piano Concerto No. 1 (mvt 1) Dances from Aleko Cello Sonata in G minor (mvt 1) Vesna Symphony No 2 (Mvt 2) Songs Op 34, No 12 Piano Concerto No 3 (Mvt 1) All-Night Vigil (Excerpt) Piano Concerto No 2 (Mvt 1) Etudes-Tableaux Op 39, No 6 The