Customer Reviews

Rachmaninoff: Life, Works, Recordings

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Harrison's book is brilliant. Since my first exposure to Rachmaninoff's music, I have been a collector of recordings of his music, the scores, and the composer's own recordings. Having read just about everything written about the composer, including the biographies written by Bertensson and Leyda, Bazhanov, Haylock, Lyle, Martyn et al, I came away from Harrison's book with a fresh image of the composer. It was one of those books that one reads looking forward to each page and almost dreading that the book, as did the composer's life, would end too soon.

Harrison clearly knows the music and all of the recordings. While he obviously places great value in the music, he is not unconditional in his appreciation. He provides a highly informed contemporary critical perspective and places the music within the context of the composer's life. It is the sort of writing that can be appreciated by an informed musician and musicologist, while also being understood and valued by the informed listener.

As I read the book I found myself returning to the Rachmaninoff operas, works which I had not really valued as much until reading Harrison's discussions.

I came away from my reading with a renewed appreciation for the music and recordings of this man who gave us all so much with his creative expression.

Over the last century, much has been written on the great Russian composer/pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff. However, if there is one book that encompasses mass detail of the life and work of Rachmaninoff, it would have to be "Rachmaninoff: Life, Works, Recordings" written by Max Harrison.
Harrison's massive research in writing this book definitely pays off as it includes detailed annotations of Rachmaninoff's music works as well as his personal life and career as a recording artist. When it comes to the latter topic, this book may be the only one that goes greatly in depth to the making of Rachmaninoff's recordings. If you own the Rachmaninoff "Complete Recordings" box set, this book goes hand in hand with the CD set and shines greater light on what's being heard.
In addition to the lengthy and informative essay, the book also includes several musical examples as well as a complete list of the composer's works and a discography of his complete recordings (which lists both the issued and rejected takes alongside the years and places of recording as well as what type of recording it is - piano roll, acoustical or electrical).
As mentioned above, this is an essential book on Rachmaninoff. This book pretty much has it all when it comes to all the key areas of his life and career as a composer, a recording artist and an individual.
This is definitely a book that no Rachmaninoff fan should be without.

Rachmaninoff has never had the authoritative biography that he deserves as one of the greatest composers and pianists of the last two centuries. Nor is this that definitive book. However, it is the most recent, and in many ways it supersedes all previous biographies, although there is still value in the Bertensson-Leyda and (to a lesser extent) the Martyn and Walker books.

It has some great strengths. First, it covers Rachmaninoff's life and career in some (not exhaustive) detail. Second, it discusses his entire compositional career more thoroughly and accurately than any previous book. Third, unlike some other biographies, it unashamedly defends Rachmaninoff's music and style from the foolish and ignorant criticisms that were common for much of the 20th century. Record collectors and piano aficionados will also find it valuable for its thorough discussion of Rachmaninoff's recordings as both pianist and conductor.

The book's major weakness, as with most previous biographies, lies in its analyses. Harrison offers many insights into Rachmaninoff's works, but he also repeats some of the stale and superficial clichés of Rachmaninoff criticism. For example, he finds quotations of the Dies Irae chant in dozens of pieces, when in fact Rachmaninoff only quoted the Dies Irae in four: Isle of the Dead, Paganini Rhapsody, Third Symphony, and Symphonic Dances. Themes in other works, such as the First Symphony, may resemble Dies Irae, but analysis shows clearly that they are different and are treated differently. And because Harrison clings to this shallow and inaccurate "insight," he misses some of the real strengths of Rachmaninoff's music--for instance, that the entire First Symphony is obsessively based on just two themes and one melodic turn. To be fair, no previous Rachmaninoff book has been strong in analysis. And despite these weaknesses, this is still the best that has yet appeared.

In this biography Max Harrison reminds us that Rachmaninoff excelled as a fine composer, one of the greatest pianists in the history of an instrument that has never lacked outstanding players, and he was also a fine conductor. Yet he was basically shy and retiring, insecure and extremely self critical. His portraits show a tall serious figure, his music often demonstrating a morbid fascination with death, through recurring references to the Dies Irae. Yet his music is supremely warm and melodic, and for this Rachmaninoff was often mercilessly slated by the critics who ought to have know better as Harrison states, when analyzing the beautiful Second Symphony, "Rachmaninoff's symphonies should be assessed, not in relation to precepts derived from Beethoven and Brahms. With Rachmaninoff different types of thematic material and musical processes, of moods and feelings, are brought into varying degrees of conflict and finally resolved in ways that are personal and formally satisfying. Logically sustained argument has its role but an instinctive drama of the emotions is this music's chief thrust, its final import being the struggle between representations of the forces of life and death." Like Elgar, Rachmaninoff in the 1920s, felt himself and his music to be out of joint with the times, romanticism was out of fashion, swept away on a tide of vulgarity and atonality. Harrison offers detailed analyses of all the works and does not hesitate to shoot down critics and writers who wrote negatively about his music. Harrison's style of writing is very easy to follow for those who have difficulty comprehending technical terms in music. The book unfortunately has no pictures, but it does include a chronological list of works, an extensive bibliography, two indexes, one of the composer's works and over 50 musical examples. This is one of the best biographies available today and I think any one who reads it will have so much more appreciation for of one of the 20th century's greatest composers, first and foremost, but also Rachmaninoff should be remembered as a brilliant pianist and a fine conductor.

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.

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.

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.

Harrison's is the most detailed, informative book on Rachmaninoff to be written and it will be hard to top. The great thing about it is how much in depth Max goes on the various Opi by Rach- chronologically. He goes into the relationships to other composers and pieces in the R Opus in more detail than other writers. It is interesting to ponder that critics who panned Rachmaninoff (in favor of the atonal school or more "daring" composers like Stravinsky and Prokofiev- who are- through Rimsky- clearly related to Rachmaninoff as are all the Russians)but Harrison does not waste time on that, nor more speculative matters. If critics are to music what pigeons are to statues- well, Harrison is not! Most of the other reviewers have said it well, but, to add to their reviews- may I draw the Rachmaninoff fan's attention to a couple of things- the Rachmaninoff Society- which you can join- Threllfall's must to have Bibliography of R's works and the wonderful collection of Rach videos on You Tube- especially the family movies!! I have written casually abt R on my web site- nothing book length, mind you!