Discuter:Sergueï Vassilievitch Rachmaninov
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Sergei Rachmaninov, aussi Sergey Rachmaninov ou Sergei Rachmaninoff (Сергей Рахманинов), (April 1, 1873 - March 28, 1943) était un compositeur, pianiste and chef d'orchestre russe.
Né à Semyonovo, près de Novgorod dans une famille aisée avec des activités militaires, Rachmaninov eu ses premières lessons de piano avec sa mère dans la propriété familiale d'Oneg. Après un déclin de sa fortune, la famille déménagea à Saint-Pétersbourg où il étudia au conservatoire, avant d'aller à Moscou où il étudia le piano avec Nikolay Zverev et Alexander Siloti. Il étudia aussi l'harmonie avec Anton Arensky et le contrepoint avec Sergei Taneyev. Pendant qu'il était encore un étudiant l'opéra en un acte 'Aleko, et le groupe de pièces pour piano, Op. 3, qui contient le prélude en C mineur aigu, probablement sa pièce pour piano la plus populaire.
Il présenta sa première symphonie en 1897 mais ce fut un four avec les critiques. Certains ont suggérés que c'était la faute du chef d'orchestre Alexandre Glazunov qui était soul comme Rachmaninov. Cette mauvaise réception mena à une dépression nerveuse et une perte de confiance en soi. Il prit des soins avec Nikolai Dahl auquel il dédia le concerto no 2 qui reste l'une de ses compositions les plus populaire, notamment par son utilisation dans le film Rencontres brèves.
Le second concerto pour piano assura sa réputation comme compositeur, mais il était aussi très connu et respecté comme pianiste. On dit qu'il avait l'une des mains les plus larges, capable de couvrir un interval énorme. Il pouvait jouer un C avec son petit doigt gauche et le G un octave et demi avec son pouce. Il fit un certain nombre d'enregistrement.
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Rachmaninov made his first recordings for Edison Records on their "Diamond Disc" records, as at the time the Edison company had the best audio fidelity in recording the piano. Rachmaninov did not consider himself a great pianist, and thought his own performances variable in quality. He therefore asked that only his recorded performances that he personally approved be commercially issued. The Edison Company, possibly through simple carelessness, issued multiple alternative takes of Rachmaninov's recordings (as was common in the disc record industry at the time for reasons of ease of mass production of records from multiple masters). Rachmaninov was angered, left Edison, and thereafter recorded for the Victor Talking Machine Company (and later its successor, RCA Victor), which was pleased to abide by Rachmaninoff's restrictions and proudly advertised him as one of the great artists who recorded for the Victor Company. Rachmaninov also made numerous recordings on piano rolls, and was reported to have regarded these as the most accurate reflection of his playing. Initially disbelieving that a roll of punched paper could provide an accurate record, he was invited to listen to a master roll of his first recording in 1919 for the Ampico company. He is then quoted as saying "Gentleman - I, Sergi Rachmaninov, have just heard myself play!". He continued to record for Ampico until around 1929.
It was as a pianist that Rachmaninov made a tour of the United States in 1909, an event for which he wrote his Piano Concerto No. 3. This tour made him very popular in America, and he emigrated there following the Russian Revolution of 1917. His output then started to slow down to some degree, because he was required to spend much of his time performing in order to support himself. Nevertheless, his Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, one of the best known of all Rachmaninov's works, was written in the United States in 1934.
Rachmaninov went on to write his Symphony No. 3 (1935-36) and the Symphonic Dances (1940), his last completed work. He died in 1943 in Beverly Hills, California, having completed four piano concertos, three symphonies, two piano sonatas, the choral symphony The Bells (based on the poem by Edgar Allan Poe), a setting of the vespers and many songs, amongst other works. Most of his pieces are in a quite traditional romantic style, rather akin to Tchaikovsky, although a few of his later works, such as the fourth piano concerto and the Variations on a theme of Corelli are in a more emotionally detached style, which has made them rather less popular with audiences.
