Rachmaninoff at Aspen Music Festival

I saw the most amazing concert at the Aspen Music Festival. Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 was performed by Macedonian pianist, Simon Trpčeski, whom I had the good fortune to meet personally as he was staying across the hall from me.

Originally composed in 1900 and 1901, Sergei Rachmaninoff labored over Piano Concerto No. 2 for almost a year and it was his first large work he created since his poorly received first piano concerto four years earlier.

The result, however, remains one of Rachmaninoff’s most well-known and beloved works that is a pillar in today’s piano repertoire. The concerto was first performed in its entirety on October 27, 1901 in Moscow.

This record collection was recorded in 1929 by RCA victor with Rachmaninoff’s favorite orchestra; the Philadelphia Orchestra. Leopold Stokowski (1882-1977) is conducting.