Rachmaninoff

Sergei Rachmaninoff overcame the severe spiritual crisis caused by the disaster of his First Symphony after several years of silence. His Second Piano Concerto (1901) heralded the composer’s true “recuperation” and bore witness to the tremendous rise in his creative powers. As a token of gratitude, Rachmaninoff dedicated one of his finest works to his physician Dr Nikolai Vladimirovich Dahl. A performance of the slow second movement of the concerto was greeted with delight by leading musical figures in Moscow. According to contemporaries, Sergei Ivanovich Taneyev cried during the performance, calling Rachmaninoff’s music brilliant. The concerto’s actual premiere on 27 October 1901 in Moscow was also an absolute triumph. The composer performed the solo, and the orchestra was conducted by Alexander Ilyich Siloti. The monumental nature of its form and the variety and power of the full-sounding piano, “competing” with the colourful orchestral score, give the concerto truly symphonic scale. Everything in this pearl of Russian classical music – the “bell-like nature”, the broad expanse of lyrical themes, the rush of resilient and volitional rhythms, the mighty waves of culminations and the tranquil light of moments of contemplative peace – all of this is embodied with unusual beauty and it all leads towards the ultimate zenith – the powerful apotheosis, performed in delight and rejoicing.
Iosif Raiskin

By the time he wrote his Second Symphony, Sergei Rachmaninoff was already well known as a pianist and as a composer. Following an unsuccessful performance of his First Symphony he abandoned the genre for twelve whole years, only composing his Second Symphony in E Minor in 1906–07. The piece is dedicated to Sergei Ivanovich Taneyev.
The Second Symphony, linked to the traditions of 19^th century Moscow and St Petersburg symphony music, is an original work both in terms of the general concept and in the particular nature of its themes, harmonies and orchestral structure. The melody of the work is based on intonations akin to anthem refrains.
The symphony was first performed on 26 January at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg and then on 2 February 1908 at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow under the baton of the composer. One anonymous reviewer of the Russian Musical Gazette in 1908 wrote of the premiere that “Sergei Rachmaninoff conducted his new symphony with genius and the self-control of a true artist and bandmaster. And it was a cause for celebration for all lovers of Russian music. The symphony is both powerful as an integral work and luxuriant in its wealth of details. Mature and artistic perfection of expression responds to the emotions and inspiration. The first and general impression is that with its poetic mood and artistic dazzle it grips one’s attention from start to finish...”