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Preface and notes
(updated: 25. February 2023)
Dear readers,
in the last days of December 2022 I have updated this page, with minor changes, such as the general formatting
and the English language version (currently still incomplete). On the one hand, I will add some more pictures in the picture gallery and also
recolor them. I also updated the concert events. There still won't be a guestbook, because I don't have the time to take care of it. Of
course you can contact me by email (see below), but please forgive me that I can't answer immediately, but when it's convenient for me.
In this sense, listen to and play (not only) Rachmaninoff's music, especially in these tense and unreal times this is all the more important!
Do you like Rachmaninoff's music?
Do you listen to or play Rachmaninoff? Oh, some would say and roll their eyes, aah, others would say and be thrilled. I always find that the
contrasts between rejection and approval of Rachmaninoff's music are greater than with any other composer.
Some feel that his works are turgid, somber, and negative, sometimes as if the core of what is in a piece is never reached, superficial and
trivial. Others, on the other hand, perhaps precisely because he composed in this way (much of it in a minor key), find this music very
pleasant, intoxicating, progressive, closest to the soul. But tastes are different, and there's no arguing about that.
I have the impression that especially here in Germany he is not yet perceived as well as other composers from the classical or romantic
period. Maybe it is because of the not yet existing respect of his personality, because if one mentions e.g. the name Schubert or Beethoven,
the association to this is already a given - positive - one by the masses.
There are certainly (not only with Rachmaninoff!) some compositions, with which even friends of his music only shake their heads. What was he
thinking? I am not necessarily thinking of his first symphony, which fell through at the time; I personally do not consider it a masterpiece,
but it is by no means to be despised! However, the number of these "questionable" compositions is small.
For the reason that there are only a few pages on the Internet (in German) about Rachmaninoff, I created the first version of this Internet
site in August 2003.
Even though I maintain this site besides my main job, I make it my duty to update the content again and again. There are also some topics
I'm working on at the moment (among others a catalog raisonné), but I ask for some patience there, as they are very time-consuming.
Have fun on this website! If you have any questions, want to criticize or find an error on this site, just send me an e-mail:
Yours Bernd Redemann
Copyright © 2003 - 2022 Bernd Redemann
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