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Composer of the Week

Sergei Rachmaninov (1873-1943)

Episode 4

Duration: 1 hour

First broadcast: on BBC Radio 3Latest broadcast: on BBC Radio 3

In this week's edition of Composer of the Week, Donald Macleod explores the life and music of Sergei Rachmaninov.

Thursday's programme looks at Rachmaninov's life-long friendship with the famous Russian bass Fyodor Chaliapin, and sees the composer on his first concert tour of America, where he performed his specially-written 3rd Piano Concerto with the New York Philharmonic conducted by their new Music Director, Gustav Mahler. Back in Russia, Rachmaninov, evidently a bit of a speed-freak, bought a new car, a Loreley, but he would only have a few years to enjoy it -it was destined, perhaps, to become the proud possession of some Bolshevik bigwig. Donald Macleod introduces extracts from three of the last works Rachmaninov composed on Russian soil. Show less

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