Sergei Rachmaninow

Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini op. 43

Paganini’s Capricci served as inspiration for many composers. In addition to Brahms, Schumann and Liszt, Rachmaninoff was also inspired by the idea. His Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini has since become one of his best known and most popular works and was an immediate success. In 1934, between two intense concert seasons, Rachmaninoff took advantage of the peace and quiet at his villa on Lake Lucerne to compose the Variations. Paganini’s virtuosity and joy of playing are juxtaposed with the Gregorian sequence “Dies irae”. A symbol of the evil spirit to which Paganini sold his soul? At least that is how Rachmaninoff wrote it in a letter to the choreographer Fokine. For the demanding piano part, the composer and celebrated pianist himself had to start practicing very early: “The composition is very difficult, and I should really start practicing now, but I get lazier with my finger exercises year after year.”

The editor, Norbert Gertsch, presents with this edition for the first time an Urtext edition of the work that Joachim Kaiser described as “Rachmaninoff's most spiritual, witty, elegant work for piano.”