Presto Music Classical Podcast,
A Russian Soul in Exile - Sergei Rachmaninoff with Fiona Maddocks
Sergei Rachmaninoff once declared that his music was "the product of his temperament, therefore Russian", but he spent the final twenty-six years of his life in exile after fleeing Russia in 1917. While in exile he composed his late masterpieces including the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini and the Symphonic Dances, while also preserving his legendary piano playing for posterity through a series of recordings.
It was a pleasure to be joined by critic and author Fiona Maddocks, who has explored this period of Rachmaninoff's life in her highly enjoyable new book, Goodbye Russia.
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In 1940 Sergei Rachmaninoff, living in exile in America, broke his creative silence and composed a swan song to his Russian homeland. What happened in those final haunted years and how did he come to write his farewell masterpiece, the Symphonic Dances? Using a wide range of sources, including important newly-translated texts, this book conjures impressions of this enigmatic figure, his friends and the world he encountered.
Available Format: Book
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