Today is Rachmnivo's 142th Birthday !!
After the poor reception of his Symphony n.1 (1897) where composer César Cui likened it to a depiction of the ten plagues of Egypt, suggesting it would be admired by the “inmates” of a music conservatory in hell, Rachmaninoff fell into a deep depression, which lasted for almost three years. During that period of time his musical production and composition activity almost ceased. However, In 1900, he began a course of autosuggestive therapy with psychologist Nikolai Dahl, an amateur musician himself. Thanks to the therapy, he began to recover his confidence and, one year later, the Piano Concerto n. 2 saw the light. At the premiere, Rachmaninoff himself was soloist and the piece was received enthusiastically.
Now one of the most popular pieces in Rachmaninoff’s repertoire, The Piano Concerto n. 2 is heavily featured in popular culture and has been quoted also in pop music compositions: as far as the derivative works are concerned, the adagio theme appears in the ballad All By Myself: author Eric Carmen, in fact, explained that Rachmaninoff was “his favourite music.” The Muse’s 2001 song Space Dementia has a lyric line —and tear us apart and make us meaningless again— that follows the melody of the first movement (moderato).
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