Description

‘Delightful . . . An entertaining and humanising portrait.’ LITERARY REVIEW

‘Elegant and compelling . . . Absorbing and multi-faceted.’ GRAMOPHONE

Rachmaninoff left St Petersburg in 1917 in the throes of the Russian Revolution. The story of his years in exile in
America and Switzerland has only been told in passing. Reeling from the trauma of a life in upheaval, he wrote almost no music and quickly had to reinvent himself as a feted virtuoso pianist, building up untold wealth and meeting the stars – from Walt Disney and Charlie Chaplin to his Russian contemporaries and polar opposites, Prokofiev and Stravinsky. Yet the melancholy of leaving his homeland never lifted. Using newly translated texts, Fiona Maddocks, casts light on this enigmatic figure, his friends, and the
world he encountered in exile.

Publisher Review

Praise for Music for Life (Faber) 'Fiona Maddocks's descriptions are dangerously moreish...a timely reminder of the importance of music.' - Anna Picard, BBC Music Magazine Praise for Hildegard of Bingen by Fiona Maddocks: 'This entertaining book is a revelation.' - Daily Telegraph