Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #628878 in Books
• Published on: 2006-11-28
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 422 pages

Customer Reviews

The best of a mediocre bunch
Rachmaninoff has never had the authoritative biography that he deserves as one of the greatest composers and pianists of the last two centuries. Nor is this that definitive book. However, it is the most recent, and in many ways it supersedes all previous biographies, although there is still value in the Bertensson-Leyda and (to a lesser extent) the Martyn and Walker books.

It has some great strengths. First, it covers Rachmaninoff's life and career in some (not exhaustive) detail. Second, it discusses his entire compositional career more thoroughly and accurately than any previous book. Third, unlike some other biographies, it unashamedly defends Rachmaninoff's music and style from the foolish and ignorant criticisms that were common for much of the 20th century. Record collectors and piano aficionados will also find it valuable for its thorough discussion of Rachmaninoff's recordings as both pianist and conductor.

The book's major weakness, as with most previous biographies, lies in its analyses. Harrison offers many insights into Rachmaninoff's works, but he also repeats some of the stale and superficial clichés of Rachmaninoff criticism. For example, he finds quotations of the Dies Irae chant in dozens of pieces, when in fact Rachmaninoff only quoted the Dies Irae in four: Isle of the Dead, Paganini Rhapsody, Third Symphony, and Symphonic Dances. Themes in other works, such as the First Symphony, may resemble Dies Irae, but analysis shows clearly that they are different and are treated differently. And because Harrison clings to this shallow and inaccurate "insight," he misses some of the real strengths of Rachmaninoff's music--for instance, that the entire First Symphony is obsessively based on just two themes and one melodic turn. To be fair, no previous Rachmaninoff book has been strong in analysis. And despite these weaknesses, this is still the best that has yet appeared.

A contemporary musicologist's take on Rachmaninov's works
Max Harrison's expertise as a top-notch musicologist is used to full advantage in this masterfully-researched and written biography of Rachmaninov. Like other reviewers, I found Harrison's very detailed assessments of each of Rachmaninov's published works to be incredibly informative. Take, for example, his view that Rachmaninov was, despite popular wisdom to the contrary, an excellent composer of large-scale symphonies. That the shoddy treatment given his first symphony reflected far more the narrow-mindedness and incompetence of the conductor, orchestra, and critics than any real shortcomings in this grand and beautiful work by a young and very talented composer.

Biography on Rachmaninoff
In this biography Max Harrison reminds us that Rachmaninoff excelled as a fine composer, one of the greatest pianists in the history of an instrument that has never lacked outstanding players, and he was also a fine conductor. Yet he was basically shy and retiring, insecure and extremely self critical. His portraits show a tall serious figure, his music often demonstrating a morbid fascination with death, through recurring references to the Dies Irae. Yet his music is supremely warm and melodic, and for this Rachmaninoff was often mercilessly slated by the critics who ought to have know better as Harrison states, when analyzing the beautiful Second Symphony, "Rachmaninoff's symphonies should be assessed, not in relation to precepts derived from Beethoven and Brahms. With Rachmaninoff different types of thematic material and musical processes, of moods and feelings, are brought into varying degrees of conflict and finally resolved in ways that are personal and formally satisfying. Logically sustained argument has its role but an instinctive drama of the emotions is this music's chief thrust, its final import being the struggle between representations of the forces of life and death." Like Elgar, Rachmaninoff in the 1920s, felt himself and his music to be out of joint with the times, romanticism was out of fashion, swept away on a tide of vulgarity and atonality. Harrison offers detailed analyses of all the works and does not hesitate to shoot down critics and writers who wrote negatively about his music. Harrison's style of writing is very easy to follow for those who have difficulty comprehending technical terms in music. The book unfortunately has no pictures, but it does include a chronological list of works, an extensive bibliography, two indexes, one of the composer's works and over 50 musical examples. This is one of the best biographies available today and I think any one who reads it will have so much more appreciation for of one of the 20th century's greatest composers, first and foremost, but also Rachmaninoff should be remembered as a brilliant pianist and a fine conductor.