Sergueï Rachmaninov (1873–1943)

From a family of landed gentry, Rachmaninoff studied at the St Petersburg and then Moscow Conservatories, where he worked on piano with Nikolai Zverev and Alexander Siloti and on composition with Arensky and Taneyev. While still a student, in 1892, he wrote the Prelude in C-sharp minor Op. 3 No. 2, which made him instantly famous.

The failure of his First Symphony (1897) plunged him into a long depression. He emerged from it with the Piano Concerto No. 2 (1901), dedicated to the doctor who had treated him, Nikolai Dahl. Then came the Preludes Opp. 23 and 32, the Third Concerto, the Second Symphony and the Vespers.

After the 1917 revolution he left Russia and eventually settled in the United States. To support his family he pursued an immense career as a concert pianist and composed less: the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (1934), the Third Symphony, the Symphonic Dances. He died in Beverly Hills in 1943.

His large hands allowed very wide chords, and his writing is dense: melodies hidden in chords, deep bells, countermelodies. Rachmaninoff teaches pianists to layer sound, to sing within thick textures and to control power.