Sergei Rachmaninoff ‒ Lilacs Op. 21 No. 5

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873 - 1943), Lilacs Op. 21 No. 5 for solo piano (1900-1902)

Performed by Dmitri Alexeev (1993)

This piece follows a poem by Ekaterina Andreyena Beketova:

In the morning, at daybreak,
over the dewy grass,
I will go to breathe the crisp dawn;
and in the fragrant shade,
where the lilac crowds,
I will go to seek my happiness...

In life, only one happiness
it was fated for me to discover,
and that happiness lives in the lilacs;
in the green boughs,
in the fragrant bunches,
my poor happiness blossoms...

Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninov was born on 1 April 1873, one of many siblings, into a noble family on the estate of Oneg in Novgorod Province, north-west Russia. Systematic music studies started when he was four years old, continuing until, at the age of nine, he was enrolled in the junior section of the Saint Petersburg Conservatoire. He transferred to the Moscow Conservatoire where he took Alexander Siloti’s piano course and then the composition course with Anton Arensky and Sergei Taneyev. On his graduation from these courses in 1891 and 1892, the Conservatoire awarded him its Grand Gold Medal and his diploma opera, Aleko, was given an enthusiastic reception by Tchaikovsky.

While Tchaikovsky was an important influence on Rachmaninov’s early creative work, compositions such as the First Piano Concerto (1891) and the First Symphony (1895) display both the young composer’s phenomenal natural talent and the distinctive originality of his thought and style.

The late 1890s saw the start of a prolonged period of concert tours, with Rachmaninov travelling widely (his fi rst international appearances were in London in 1899). Over the years Rachmaninov won worldwide reputation as Russia’s most outstanding pianist, second only to Anton Rubinstein, and one of the greatest pianists ever.

Rachmaninov died of cancer, suddenly, in Beverley Hills, California, on 28 March 1943, just three days before his seventieth birthday. He left us not just his music but a huge number of recordings—Rachmaninov the pianist playing his own compositions and the music of great classical composers. His place in this pantheon of the great had long been established.

Видео Sergei Rachmaninoff ‒ Lilacs Op. 21 No. 5 канала Medtnaculus