Sergey Rachmaninov: Suite in D minor - II. Lento - Julia Severus, piano

Sergey V. Rachmaninov: Suite in D minor, I. Allegro moderato Julia Severus, piano On January 6, 1891, 17-year old Rachmaninov wrote to his friend Natalia Skalon: „These two and a half days I have been composing all the time; I have just finished the instrumentation of my suite.“ And on January 10: „As to the orchestral suite, my affair did not get off, they won´t play it as it is written for large symphonic orchestra… So […] next year […] I will organize a concert myself and play it… Now I gave it to Tchaikovsky to look at, I trust him blindly.“ Rachmaninov’s piano transcription of the Orchestral Suite was found in pianist Alexander Siloti’s archive in Moscow only in 2002 (Siloti was Rachmaninov’s cousin and a pupil of Liszt). The second movement in B minor, a sort of sombre sarabande, unfolds its tragic, introverted theme into a large hymn, flowing into a seemingly endless space. The Suite is featured in the Rachmaninov album “Rare Piano Transcriptions” by @Naxosrecords.