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Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) is now widely regarded as one of the greatest 20th-century composers and pianists. In this illuminating and accessible biography, Max Harrison covers the span of Rachmaninoff's life, taking in his career as composer, pianist and conductor, offering full analyses of his scores and a uniquely detailed treatment of his 1919-1942 recordings. A fascinating account of the man, his life and work, this book sheds much new light on its subject and the ways that Rachmaninoff was viewed during his own time and beyond.
- Sales Rank: #1426093 in Books
- Published on: 2006-11-28
- Released on: 2006-11-28
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.21" h x .88" w x 6.14" l, 1.42 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 432 pages
Review
'This new study of Rachmaninoff by Max Harrison betokens a lifetime's study of this great composer and pianist, and is extended beyond the customary life and works framework to embrace Rachmaninoff's extensive recorded legacy, which, as time goes by, should become an essential part of any discussions of the life and works of those composers who have made recordings of their own music. The result is a welcome addition to the growing appreciation of Rachmaninoff's genius. Max Harrison wears his scholarship lightly, producing an eminently readable text which unveils the story of Rachmaninoff clearly and interestingly. His comments on the music and especially on Rachmaninoff's extensive recordings are particularly insightful, and add much to our understanding of them...very well-researched book...This excellently-produced book is much to be commended, and is most reasonably priced.' (Musical Opinion)
'Not only sculpts a crystal clear figure of Rachmaninoff the man, but also refines the transcript of his working life...we should, therefore, be indebted to Harrison for directing us to what is now a full colour portrait of an artist drawn through the visions of his creative self.' (David Sonin Ham and High)
'A useful addition to the literature on someone who has finally become one of the most respected, if retrospective, 20th-Century composers.' (Fergus Johnston The Irish Times)
'Harrison's work is admirable... his research is exhaustive and wide-ranging... Harrison is a man with a mission to make us take Rachmaninoff's music more seriously... a book to be treasured by all... it is impossible to read it without reflecting that its subject has been comprehensively misunderstood; Harrison's work takes a major step to putting that situation right and doing justice to the composer and his music.' (Max Harrison International Piano Magazine)
'...an honest, enormously detailed and very interesting book on a fascinating subject.' (Bahman Barekat Rachmaninoff Society Newsletter)
'It is so satisfying to have another important book about this great composer - it is comprehensive and well researched. Max Harrison writes with passion and intelligence - highly recommended'. Vladimir Ashkenazy, President of the Rachmaninoff Society
'Max Harrison slices through a century's worth of wrongheaded critical bluster and rediscovers the music of a major composer. Essential reading' - Terry Teachout
transcends the already considerable available scholarship on Rachmaninoff with this perspicuous work which allows the reader not only to understand how the political and practical realities of the musician's circumstances helped direct the course of his life and livelihood, but how his creative existence evolved. By avoiding overly technical discussions when analyzing Rachmaninoff's compositions, the author is able to communicate his ideas to a broad musical audience." —CHOICE, July 2006
'his knowledge both of the repertoire and of other painters are impressive...he covers everything, and enthusiastically defends the originality of Rachmaniov's later works...Three stars...for diligence.'~ David Nice, BBC Music Magazine (David Nice)
"[A] compelling narrative...'A composer's music...should be the sum total of a composer's experience.' Rachmaninov once claimed. After reading this biography you should be left in no doubt as to that statement's veracity." (Julian Haylock, Classic FM Magazine)
"an impressive achievement, the result of meticulous research and a long, deep association with its subject...Its tone is crisp, energetic and omniscient...no one who is interested in any aspect of this great musician's legacy can afford to miss Harrison's engaging, scholarly and, yes, inspiring biography." (Jeremy Nicholas, Gramophone)
For readers of this journal, Rachmaninoff's own recordings will be a central interest. Harrison discusses each one in more detail than is usual. Particularly valuable is his discussion of the duplication of repertoire. He compares both the published recordings with the series of the piano rolls that Rachmaninoff recorded for Ampico during the twenties." (Association for Recorded Sound Collections Journal (ARSC Journal))
"Anyone deeply interested in the music of Rachmanimov who would like to really know about the Russian master's composition process will find Rachmaninov:Life, Works, Recordings to be of great interest." "there's no doubt that Harrison knows Rachmaninov's music in detail" "An intense and in-depth read, this is a book for real Rachmaninov aficionados." Pianist, No. 37, August-September 2007 (Pianist)
Nominated as a finalist for the Association for Recorded Sound Collections, Classical shortlist. (Finalists for the 2006 ARSC Awards for Excellence)
"The general excellence of this 'life and works' is greatly enhanced by generous coverage of Rachmaninov's parallel careers as pianist and conductor. Compared to other notable biographers, Harrison provides a more comprehensive portrait of Rachmaninov the all round musician" (Classical Music, Philip Borg - Wheeler)
"Sergei Rachmaninov's three-dimensional career as pianist, conductor, and composer receives the most comprehensive scholarly analysis to date in this work by Mark Harrison. Harrison's own trisection of Rachmaninov—life, works, and recordings—address and surpasses the common themes of biographers and, via remarkable descriptions of compositions and performances preserved on sound recordings, transports the reader to concert halls and recording studios where Rachmaninov performed."—Lois Alexander, University of Michigan-Flint, Slavic and East European Journal, 51.4, Winter 2007 (Lois Alexander)
''A widely published musical journalist, Max Harrison writes in a cultivated and comfortable British English... pleasingly free from jargon''
''Harrison seems to have set himself the task of not only presenting the chronology and circumstances of Rachmaninoff's life and works with scrupulous clarity and care but also to refute the denigration of Rachmaninoff's original works that became fashionable when the composer settled in the U.S. after feeling the Bolshevik Revolution'' Dennis D. Rooney, ARSC Journal, Spring 2007
"[Michael] Scott's (founder, London Opera Society; The Great Caruso) book on pianist-composer Sergey Rachmaninoff [Rachmaninoff] is almost entirely biographical, unlike Barrie Martyn's Rachmaninoff: Composer, Pianist, Conductor and Max Harrison's Rachmaninoff: Life, Works, Recordings, which combine biography with musical analysis (both have musical examples, but Scott's book does not)...Martyn and Harrison offer superior examinations of Rachmaninoff's music...Martyn's and Harrison's books also have illustrations...For a general treatment of Rachmaninoff's life and music, Harrison's book is the best." —Bruce R. Schueneman, Library Journal, February 1, 2009
CHOICE, July 2006
'his knowledge both of the repertoire and of other painters are impressive...he covers everything, and enthusiastically defends the originality of Rachmaniov's later works...Three stars...for diligence.'~ David Nice, BBC Music Magazine (Sanford Lakoff)
"[A] compelling narrative...'A composer's music...should be the sum total of a composer's experience.' Rachmaninov once claimed. After reading this biography you should be left in no doubt as to that statement's veracity." (Sanford Lakoff)
"an impressive achievement, the result of meticulous research and a long, deep association with its subject...Its tone is crisp, energetic and omniscient...no one who is interested in any aspect of this great musician's legacy can afford to miss Harrison's engaging, scholarly and, yes, inspiring biography." (Sanford Lakoff)
Max Harrison’s comprehensive biography treats the life, works and recordings exactly as stated in the subtitle. A chronological survey of all three together in the course of thirty-nine relatively short chapters, supplemented by a section of fifty-four musical examples similarly ordered, a list of works both by chronological order and classification, an abbreviated discography and the bibliography. By keeping the chapters short, it is easy to peruse the reference notes at the end of each one. These are almost all explanatory and entertainingly informative widely published musical journalist. Max Harrison writes in a cultivated and comfortable British English. It is pleasingly free of jargon… For readers of this journal, Rachmaninoff’s own recordings will be a central interest. Harrison discusses each one in more detail than is usual. Particularly valuable is his discussion of the duplication of repertoire. He compares both the published recordings with the series of the piano rolls that Rachmaninoff recorded for Ampico during the twenties.” (Sanford Lakoff)
"Anyone deeply interested in the music of Rachmanimov who would like to really know about the Russian master's composition process will find Rachmaninov:Life, Works, Recordings to be of great interest." "there's no doubt that Harrison knows Rachmaninov's music in detail" "An intense and in-depth read, this is a book for real Rachmaninov aficionados." Pianist, No. 37, August-September 2007 (Sanford Lakoff)
Nominated as a finalist for the Association for Recorded Sound Collections, Classical shortlist. (Sanford Lakoff)
"The general excellence of this 'life and works' is greatly enhanced by generous coverage of Rachmaninov's parallel careers as pianist and conductor. Compared to other notable biographers, Harrison provides a more comprehensive portrait of Rachmaninov the all round musician" (Sanford Lakoff)
"Sergei Rachmaninov's three-dimensional career as pianist, conductor, and composer receives the most comprehensive scholarly analysis to date in this work by Mark Harrison. Harrison's own trisection of Rachmaninov–life, works, and recordings–address and surpasses the common themes of biographers and, via remarkable descriptions of compositions and performances preserved on sound recordings, transports the reader to concert halls and recording studios where Rachmaninov performed."—Lois Alexander, University of Michigan-Flint, Slavic and East European Journal, 51.4, Winter 2007 (Sanford Lakoff)
“[Michael] Scott’s (founder, London Opera Society; The Great Caruso) book on pianist-composer Sergey Rachmaninoff [Rachmaninoff] is almost entirely biographical, unlike Barrie Martyn’s Rachmaninoff: Composer, Pianist, Conductor and Max Harrison’s Rachmaninoff: Life, Works, Recordings, which combine biography with musical analysis (both have musical examples, but Scott’s book does not)…Martyn and Harrison offer superior examinations of Rachmaninoff’s music…Martyn’s and Harrison’s books also have illustrations…For a general treatment of Rachmaninoff’s life and music, Harrison’s book is the best.” –Bruce R. Schueneman, Library Journal, February 1, 2009
About the Author
Max Harrison is a musicologist who reviewed for The Times and The Gramophone from 1967-90, has written widely on jazz, and contributed to the 1980 edition of The New Grove Dictionary of Music and other reference works.
Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful.
A contemporary musicologist's take on Rachmaninov's works
By John R. Blackburn Jr.
Max Harrison's expertise as a top-notch musicologist is used to full advantage in this masterfully-researched and written biography of Rachmaninov. Like other reviewers, I found Harrison's very detailed assessments of each of Rachmaninov's published works to be incredibly informative. Take, for example, his view that Rachmaninov was, despite popular wisdom to the contrary, an excellent composer of large-scale symphonies. That the shoddy treatment given his first symphony reflected far more the narrow-mindedness and incompetence of the conductor, orchestra, and critics than any real shortcomings in this grand and beautiful work by a young and very talented composer.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful.
Good book, but rather inconsistent and somewhat superfluous
By Alexander Arsov
Basically, provided that you are real admirer of Rachmaninoff, there are three reasons to have this book, especially if you don't own either Barrie Martyn's impressive study or Bertensson/Leyda's tedious attempt for a biography.
1) Max Harrison has the most extensive discussion of Rachmaninoff's complete recordings, including gramophone ones and piano rolls. His analyses and comparisons are often revealing of Rachmaninoff's artistry as a pianist, though occasionally Mr Harrison is apt to slip into unnecessary descriptions of the indescribable.
2) Mr Harrison also has all basic facts of Rachmaninoff's life, fairly well researched and well written, if a bit drily. Unlike Bertensson/Leyda's promiscuous quoting of letters, Mr Harrison is industrious enough to narrate the facts with his own words. Every controversial opinion is meticulously noted and after each chapter there is a list of notes which gives interesting additional information, occasionally a little too much concerned with trivia.
3) Mr Harrison's book is quite in print and pretty cheap, whereas Barrie Martyn's study is neither.
The last point is probably most important one. Though a good book, Mr Harrison's study is not nearly as finely written or as comprehensive as Barrie Martyn's already more than 20 years old study. On the whole, Mr Harrison writes well but his steering clear, as admitted in his introduction, from any deeper psychological investigation lends a good deal of dryness to his narrative. Of course the author does, far from often, go inside Rachmaninoff's head, and rightly so, but this happens fairly seldom and rather too timidly to be convincing. In short, Mr Harrison's striving for objectivity has made his book less personal and certainly duller than Martyn's unabashedly subjective approach which, if you choose to accept it, is far more rewarding.
In his introduction, Mr Harrison finely says that he is no partisan of the ''revelatory'' or ''psychological'' biography and that's why his book concentrates on Rachmaninoff's works and recordings, the former being viewed as music to be performed and heard rather than being analysed on paper. Fair enough, and two very fine points indeed. Unfortunately, Mr Harrison's musical analyses are unberably dull all the same. He does offer some insights about the place of Rachmaninoff's compositions in his own output or in comparison with his contemporaries, but his erudition is devoid of Martyn's ability for making striking parallels or to illuminate the music. Indeed, Mr Harrison's musical analyses are often reduced to intolerably tedious descriptions. Many of Rachmaninoff's most popular works, such as the Second and the Third Piano Concertos for instance, are described movement by movement, theme by theme, bar by bar, in the course of three or four pages and in a most excruciatingly dull manner. As a rule, Mr Harrrison is not often bogged down in technical detail and can for the most part be understood by the layman, but his ''analyses'' are no less useless for that, alas.
Some of Mr Harrison's judgments are highly questionable too. For example, his claim that Rachmaninoff's ''pieces for piano and orchestra are not his greatest music'' is bogus and it smacks of snobbish prejudice probably prompted by their overwhelming popularity which, alas, has to lead to many dismal performances. Even more ridiculous is Mr Harrison's reference to the orchestral works of many Russian composers, from Tchaikovsky to Stravinsky, as ''ballets squeezed into sonata shapes''. I wish the author had thought twice before writing such stupendous nonsense. What he means by the claim that ''Rachmaninoff could write genuinely symphonic music'' is equally mysterious to me.
Considering the exhaustive analysis of Rachmaninoff's recordings, the discography in the end of the book is disappointing. It does list all gramophone recordings and piano rolls he made all right, but each item is accompanied, apart from date ana place, only with ''issued'' and ''rejected''. Since this book was first published in 2005, Mr Harrison might at least have mentioned Rachmaninoff's Complete Recordings on RCA and the two ''A Window in Time'' CDs with his digitally reproduced piano rolls. All these recordings, indeed, are essential for everybody who cares to read the book.
The book is as much well researched as it is badly illustrated, with but one indifferently reprinted portrait of Rachmaninoff as a frontispiece.
In conclusion, this book is an excellent starter for Rachmaninoff buffs who love his music and want to get better acquainted with his life and lesser known works. It supersedes completely the amateurish attempt for a biography of Bertensson and Leyda (1956) which can be recommended only to the most curious fans for it does contain some valuable excerpts from letters. On Rachmaninoff's recording legacy, as I have already said, Mr Harrison is unsurpassed: this is by far the chief asset of his book and, together with its price, the most important reason to have it. And don't forget to get Rachmaninoff's gramophone recordings and piano rolls: without them the most important part of the book would not be worth reading. As far as Rachmaninoff's careers as composer, pianist and conductor are concerned, Mr Harrison's straightforward and dry treatment cannot hold a candle to Barrie Martyn's more personal and more perceptive approach. The latter has captured the essence and the development of Rachmaninoff in all these areas with much greater force, whereas Mr Harrison for the most part simply states the facts or repeats what has already been said before. The sections with Rachmaninoff's appearances and repertoire season by season are clearly nearly copy-paste from Martyn's book, yet there is no acknowledgement whatsoever of that.
From the three books mentioned above, Barrie Martyn's study is definitely the most expensive one. Rightly so. For it is the most comprehensive and perceptive one, too. Harrison and Bertensson/Leyda can fill a mundane detail here and there, but that's just about all they can do. Still, if you cannot find a copy of Martyn's book, or cannot afford it, Mr Harrison's study is worth studying.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
A Labour of love
By Alexander Goncharov
This is one of those rare books once you begin reading it, it is impossible to put it down. The bright and vivid image of Rachmaninov appears clearly with myriads of subtle details in his noble character. His compositions and his own recordings are presented in the context of his life, which makes the reading very enjoyable; writing stile is non-pretentious, intelligent and adds to overall experience of rediscovering Rachmaninov's legacy. The grand scope in exposition of biographical material is simply stunning. I would hearty recommend reading this work to anyone who loves Rachmaninov's music.
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