Goodbye Russia – Rachmaninoff in Exile
Fiona Maddocks
Faber 304pp (hb) £25
When Rachmaninov left Russia for good at the end of 1917, he effectively had to reinvent himself in the completely different cultural environment of the West. Financial necessity prompted him to become a travelling virtuoso pianist, giving a staggering number of recitals throughout the US and Europe until his death in 1943. It’s little wonder, then, that he had neither the time, nor perhaps the inclination, to resume compositional
