In this week's edition of Composer of the Week, Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Sergei Rachmaninov.
In Tuesday's programme, Rachmaninov hits a three-year creative roadblock. He visits his hero Tolstoy hoping for a pep talk, but instead finds a 'thoroughly disagreeable man'. Eventually he gets back on track with the help of a noted Moscow hypnotist, Dr Dahl, who manages to snap him out of his lethargy. Then the floodgates opened - the results included his opera Francesca da Rimini, the 2nd Piano Concerto, one of his most enduringly popular works, and the Cello Sonata - Donald Macleod introduces extracts from all of these. Show less