Professor Robert Winston brings together his expertise and experience in science and medicine with his overriding passion for music, to explore the relationship between the music and the medical conditions of composers who suffered mental and physical illness.

Rachmaninoff's second Piano Concerto has become one of classical music's most enduring hits, but it was almost never composed at all. The composer suffered an extreme creative block following the catastrophic premiere of his first symphony. After three years of silence, a hypnotherapist, Dr. Dahl, effected a cure and rescued his career. Prof. Winston also investigates evidence that a medical condition was responsible for Rachmaninoff's famously large hand-span, with pianist Peter Donohoe demonstrating the difficulty this presents for would-be performers of his music.

Producer: Chris Taylor. Show less