Product Description

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) is now widely regarded as one of the greatest 20th-century composers and pianists. In this illuminating and accessible biography, Max Harrison covers the span of Rachmaninoff's life, taking in his career as composer, pianist and conductor, offering full analyses of his scores and a uniquely detailed treatment of his 1919-1942 recordings. A fascinating account of the man, his life and work, this book sheds much new light on its subject and the ways that Rachmaninoff was viewed during his own time and beyond.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #775513 in Books
• Published on: 2006-11-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

Review
"'Max Harrison wears his scholarship lightly, producing an eminently readable text which unveils the story of Rachmaninoff clearly and interestingly. His comments on the music and especially on Rachmaninoff's extensive recordings are particularly insightful, and add much to our understanding of them...very well-researched book... This excellently-produced book is much to be commended, and is most reasonably priced.' Musical Opinion 'Harrison's work is admirable... his research is exhaustive and wide-ranging... Harrison is a man with a mission to make us take Rachmaninoff's music more seriously... a book to be treasured by all... it is impossible to read it without reflecting that its subject has been comprehensively misunderstood; Harrison's work takes a major step to putting that situation right and doing justice to the composer and his music.' International Piano '...an honest, enormously detailed and very interesting book on a fascinating subject.' Bahman Barekat, Rachmaninoff Society Newsletter 'It is so satisfying to have another important book about this great composer - it is comprehensive and well researched. Max Harrison writes with passion and intelligence - highly recommended'. Vladimir Ashkenazy, President of the Rachmaninoff Society"

About the Author
Max Harrison is a musicologist who reviewed for The Times and The Gramophone from 1967-90, has written widely on jazz, and contributed to the 1980 edition of The New Grove Dictionary of Music and other reference works.

Customer Reviews

Rachmaninoff Revisited
Harrison's book is brilliant. Since my first exposure to Rachmaninoff's music, I have been a collector of recordings of his music, the scores, and the composer's own recordings. Having read just about everything written about the composer, including the biographies written by Bertensson and Leyda, Bazhanov, Haylock, Lyle, Martyn et al, I came away from Harrison's book with a fresh image of the composer. It was one of those books that one reads looking forward to each page and almost dreading that the book, as did the composer's life, would end too soon.

Harrison clearly knows the music and all of the recordings. While he obviously places great value in the music, he is not unconditional in his appreciation. He provides a highly informed contemporary critical perspective and places the music within the context of the composer's life. It is the sort of writing that can be appreciated by an informed musician and musicologist, while also being understood and valued by the informed listener.

As I read the book I found myself returning to the Rachmaninoff operas, works which I had not really valued as much until reading Harrison's discussions.

I came away from my reading with a renewed appreciation for the music and recordings of this man who gave us all so much with his creative expression.

One of the best Rachmaninoff books ever written.
Over the last century, much has been written on the great Russian composer/pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff. However, if there is one book that encompasses mass detail of the life and work of Rachmaninoff, it would have to be "Rachmaninoff: Life, Works, Recordings" written by Max Harrison.
Harrison's massive research in writing this book definitely pays off as it includes detailed annotations of Rachmaninoff's music works as well as his personal life and career as a recording artist. When it comes to the latter topic, this book may be the only one that goes greatly in depth to the making of Rachmaninoff's recordings. If you own the Rachmaninoff "Complete Recordings" box set, this book goes hand in hand with the CD set and shines greater light on what's being heard.
In addition to the lengthy and informative essay, the book also includes several musical examples as well as a complete list of the composer's works and a discography of his complete recordings (which lists both the issued and rejected takes alongside the years and places of recording as well as what type of recording it is - piano roll, acoustical or electrical).
As mentioned above, this is an essential book on Rachmaninoff. This book pretty much has it all when it comes to all the key areas of his life and career as a composer, a recording artist and an individual.
This is definitely a book that no Rachmaninoff fan should be without.

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.