Introduction

Conceived in 2003 and originally published in 2010, Picturing Rachmaninoff is a multisensory experience combining the 9 Etudes-Tableaux Op. 39 of Sergei Rachmaninoff with masterpieces of painting and literature from which I have taken inspiration throughout my own artistic immersion in the piano music of Rachmaninoff. This updated 2023 edition includes some newly selected paintings and poems to reflect evolving  interpretational perspectives. 

Though he titled these pieces Etudes-Tableaux, Rachmaninoff did not publish specific descriptions of the images he meant to evoke in the music. However, in a letter to Ottorino Respighi, Rachmaninoff did offer some words to describe four of the etudes included in this performance. Here, he referred to his second etude as “The Sea and Seagulls” and his sixth as “Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf”. His seventh etude, marked Lento Lugubre, was envisioned as a “funeral march” for Alexander Scriabin, and the ninth depicted an “Oriental March." Despite his letter, Rachmaninoff wanted listeners to “paint" the Etudes "for themselves.”

I have taken the composer at his word and, though informed by his suggested imagery, have “painted” the etudes for myself. I have collected paintings and poetry, which I feel seize a mood, image or pathos alive in the works. With my selections, I hope to inspire listeners to explore connections of their own as they discover the immeasurable potential of these great works of art.