Sergei Rachmaninoff: Cross Rhythms of the Soul

(Hardback)

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Sergei Rachmaninoff experienced life-changing upheavals and competing inflection points of musical taste, traversing countries and continents as he pursued the triply-brilliant career of composer-conductor-virtuoso pianist. Born in tsarist Russia and raised as a nobleman in a well-educated musical family, Rachmaninoff led a bold lifestyle as a cutting-edge composer, admirer of the latest trends in art, and even aficionado of new developments in farm equipment for his beloved estate of Ivanovka. Wherever his concertizing took him, to glittering capitals all over the world, Rachmaninoff became a nexus for prominent musicians, writers, actors, and other personalities defining this era.

Valeria Z. Nollans biography of perhaps the finest pianist of the twentieth century plunges readers into Rachmaninoffs complex inner world. Sergei Rachmaninoff: Cross Rhythms of the Soul is the first biography of Rachmaninoff in English that presents him in the fullness of his Russian identity. As someone whose own life in Russian emigration ran in parallel ways to Rachmaninoffs ownand whose meetings with the composers grandson in Switzerland informed her workNollan brings important cultural insights into her observations of the activities of this generation of creative artists. She also traces the intricacies of Rachmaninoffs relations with the women closest to himwhose imprints are palpable in his compositionsand introduces a mystery woman whose existence challenges our established narrative of his life.

Reviews

"Among the many biographies of Rachmaninoff, this study is distinguished by its insights into how the composer's genius was formed by Russian life and culture, especially Russian Orthodoxy. Nollan's knowledge of Rachmaninoff's Russian worlds presents a more authentic understanding of him than we have had before. The book combines historical and cultural analysis with musicology and new details about the women in Rachmaninoff's life. It is extensively researched and reads easily, despite its layers of learning. Altogether a major work."

"Gracefully written and fully accessible to non-specialists, Valeria Z. Nollan's monograph is a meticulously researched reconstruction of the web of personal and professional relationships within which Rachmaninoff lived and worked, from childhood to his final years. While Nollan's religious interests do not dominate her book, her recurrent attention to Rachmaninoff's Russian Orthodox identity adds a welcome dimension to her portrait of the composer who authored what may be the world's best-known piece of modern Orthodox church music, the 1915 All-Night Vigil (Op. 37)."

"Meticulously researched, eminently readable, and full of intriguing new details, Valeria Nollan's thoughtful biography of Rachmaninoff takes us behind the public persona and timeless music with unique understanding and valuable insight. This book is a must read for any serious music lover."

Author Bio

Valeria Z. Nollan is professor emerita of Russian studies at Rhodes College.