Rachmaninov: Vespers

Advantages: Emotive, dramatic, sombre, (If that's your thing)
Disadvantages: The only disadvantages are if you don't like classical music or are not in the mood for over the top dramatical scores.

...Rachmaninov Quote - 'I feel like a ghost wandering in a world grown alien. I cannot cast out the old way of writing and I cannot acquire the new'. For those of you who are not avid listeners of classical music do not shy away from purchasing any of Rachmaninov's music as it provides an alternative mood for you to listen to in your personal music collections. ---Background Information--- FULL NAME: Sergei Rachmaninov NATIONALITY: Russian BORN: 1873 DIED: 1943 SPECIALIST MUSIC GENRES: Piano concertos, solo piano music Its also worth reading a bit more about his background as he had an interesting life. ---Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor--- Like much of Rachmaninov's music this piece is very deep and the mood of the song fluctuates alot. It is sad and uplifting at the same time and goes from slow quiet rhythms... Read review

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Advantages: One of the most Romantic concertos around, full of beautiful melodies and passion
Disadvantages: over-recorded

...INTRODUCTION Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninov was one of the most promising composers emerging from Russia after Tchaikovsky. His early works included the youthfully energetic Piano Concerto in F sharp minor, Op.1, an orchestral fantasia The Rock, the opera Aleko, several songs, piano pieces (including the famous Prelude in C sharp minor, a work that would plague Rachmaninov with its popularity throughout his life) and the First Symphony in D minor, Op.13. Rachmaninov had high hopes for the latter; it was his magnum opus up until that time. However the symphony proved to be the biggest disappointment of his career, causing a tremendous crisis in his creative life. All the critics jumped on the work, most notably César Cui who compared it with the Seven Plagues of Egypt and condemned the work as modernist trash. The effect... Read review

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Advantages: Romantic, passionate and beautiful
Disadvantages: Unless you have a heart of stone absolutely none whatsoever

...- - GENERAL HISTORY - - Sergei Rachmaninov was at the height of his popularity in 1906, winged by the popularity of his Second Piano Concerto of 1901 and his early C sharp minor Prelude. During this time he composed such major works as the First Piano Sonata, the symphonic poem "The Isle of the Dead", Op.29, the 18 songs of Op.26, and most importantly, the Second Symphony in E minor, Op.27. This work was Rachmaninov's first attempt at a symphony in eleven years, after his First Symphony (a work that the composer really wanted to forget, going so far as to forbid its publication and performance) bombed at its premiere. He began the Second Symphony in October 1906, right after he and his family had settled in the peaceful surroundings of Dresden. It was finished in rough draft by early 1907, but work on it progressed slowly. Rachmaninov... Read review

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