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Valentina Lisitsa - I hate Rachmaninov

4,042 views · Published 2 April 2013 · 3:33 · Indexed 6 October 2026

Channel: Decca Classics · 2013 · Music

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Haha, of course I don't. Happy April 1st!....But what I do hate is the caricature of Rachmaninoff that emerged "thanks" to many various things that took place in the world between him time and ours: first were his fellow "modern" composers who , unable to create   beautiful and memorable melodies, cast him as a "dinosaur", a fossil from 19th century  and relegated his music to Hollywood ( he never composed for Hollywood , not for any money btw).Then came Soviet commissars  - first making him into a traitor and "enemy of people" but then re-making him into this Russian patriot who was perpetually depressed and lost his creative spirit because he was away from Mother Russia (read- USSR). On their tails came the competitors of various  hair colors and sizes:  overweight and sweaty men who pounded poor Rachmaninoff to death recasting him from an aristocrat into their proletarian likeness , cute blondes ( or brunettes ) who made soft porn out of his noble music with their overwrought sentimentality....We totally forgot that besides being a great composer Rachmaninoff was arguably one of the best pianists ever - and not a bad conductor, right? :) So, when I hear from would-be-authorities that Rachmaninoff "plays his own 3rd concerto too fast" it really drives me crazy. His music and his playing were NEVER dripping sentimental - or aggressively bombastic. His music doesn't need a fur hat ,handkerchief or Cossack boots to be authentic. No, thank you.

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