Reimagining Rachmaninoff in the context of modern migration

When the war began, it took months for me to move past the initial shock and begin thinking about what I, as a musician, could say about everything that was happening. During this time, I came across a three-volume collection of Sergei Rachmaninoff's letters and diaries (S. Rachmaninoff: Literary Heritage in 3 Volumes, edited by Zarui Apetyan). As I read these accounts, I was struck by how deeply the composer’s experience of leaving Russia in 1917 and his life in exile resonated with the tragedy unfolding in 2022.

That year, I worked with several volunteer organizations, supporting refugees from Ukraine and emigrants from Russia. Many of them shared their stories with me, and these became the foundation of my upcoming album, Rachmaninoff Variations. The parallels between the revolution of 1917 and the events of 2022 were so profound that it often felt as though people today were mirroring the thoughts and emotions Rachmaninoff himself had expressed.

Rachmaninoff Variations comprises four compositions, each representing a pivotal moment from 2022: the night of February 22nd, the rainy days of March in Istanbul, the September escape from mobilisation through a border crossing in the Caucasus Mountains, and the December arrival in Boston, marking the beginning of a new home and newfound hope.

The album’s original title, Rachmaninoff: The Philosophers’ ships 100 Years Later, refers to a series of at least five passenger ship voyages that departed from Crimea  –  my birthplace  –  in 1922, heading to Istanbul. Over time, this term came to symbolise the entire first wave of 20th-century Russian emigration (1917–1924). Ideological conflicts with the Soviet regime and its repressive policies forced many key figures of Russian culture in the early 20th century to leave their homeland, beginning as early as 1917. For instance, Rachmaninoff left in 1917, Prokofiev in 1918, Nabokov in 1919, and Bunin in 1920. In 1922, Lenin proposed replacing the death penalty for intellectuals opposing Soviet power with forced exile, leading even more members of the Russian intelligentsia to flee. Among them were Chaliapin, Tsvetaeva, Khodasevich, and many others.

After extensive searching, I instead decided on the title Rachmaninoff Variations for the album. It combines excerpts from Rachmaninoff's diaries with letters from contemporary refugees and emigrants, recorded by actors from leading Russian, Ukrainian and Polish theatres who are now based in London. The musical material for the album blends modern compositional techniques with elements of folk music modes. By altering, varying, and transforming Rachmaninoff's work, I sought to create something entirely new. This album is, at its core, a modern composer’s interpretation of Rachmaninoff – a reimagining of his music for the 21st century.

The first piece, a variation on Prelude in C-sharp minor, Op. 3 No. 2, features a rhythmic motif from Chopin’s Funeral March (the third movement of his Piano Sonata No.2, Op. 35). I chose this element to evoke the sombre mood of that February night when the invasion began. While I’ve played the Prelude in C-sharp minor since childhood, it was only recently that I found a way to reinterpret it in such an unconventional and distinctive manner.

In this variation, I adjusted the tempo, transformed the triplets into uneven slower patterns, and introduced a new melodic line for the violin. These changes heightened the piece’s dramatic and emotional intensity. Violinist Roman Lytwyniw, whose parents are from Ukraine, delivered an extraordinary performance of the violin part during our recording session at Abbey Road Studios.

In the second composition, I wanted to highlight the theme of migration and capture the profound, irrevocable loss of homeland that Rachmaninoff experienced. He wrote the romance A Dream, Op. 8 No. 5, to the poetry of Pleshcheyev long before his migration, almost as if sensing that he would lose everything. I had a letter from a Russian émigré in Istanbul, and I thought it would be meaningful to connect the past and the present by slightly altering the final stanza of the romance to: ‘I fled to Istanbul with my family.’ I also introduced a modulation at the end of the piece, shifting to a different key using the Turkish maqam hijaz and incorporating traditional Sufi vocals. For this, I worked with the Sufi vocalist Gürbüz Hakan, with whom I had previously collaborated on my last album, Portraits of Cities, and titled the composition Ticket to Istanbul.

I continued exploring the theme of migration in the third composition, Variation on a Romance Don’t Sing for Me, My Beauty, Op. 4 No. 4 Verkniy Lars. This piece, based on the harmony of the romance to Pushkin's poem about a Georgian beauty, features a new introduction and development. A vocalize in A minor, inspired by one of the Georgian folk modes was performed by the exceptional mezzo-soprano Aleksandra Kenenova. The tense pizzicato in the cello, played by the outstanding Gabriella Swallow, evokes the cold of the Georgian mountains. The protagonist's fate, revealed through the reading of the letter by actor Nikolai Mulakov before the piece begins, remains uncertain: he is fleeing conscription and does not know what his future holds. Turkey and the Caucasus have long held an important place in history of both Russia and Ukraine. As someone born in Crimea, I wanted to reflect on how contemporaries felt about their move to countries that, while geographically close, were in reality entirely different, unfamiliar worlds.

In the final composition, ‘Var. on a Prelude in G Major, Op. 32 No. 5,’ following the deeply emotional letter of a Ukrainian refugee, recorded by the extraordinary Polish artist Zuza Tehanu, I wanted to conclude the album on an uplifting note. Rachmaninoff's epilogue represents the hope that creativity and music can overcome destruction. In this variation of the G major prelude, I focused on adapting it for a piano trio, composing new parts for the cello and violin, giving them the second development of the theme in a duet.

After finishing the Variations and creating another transcription – this time for solo piano – I incorporated them into my repertoire and performed them during my concert in Paris at the Rachmaninoff Conservatory in December 2023, as part of my world tour. This was the beginning of my connection with the composer’s great-granddaughter, Alexandra Rachmaninoff. She warmly embraced everything I do with great interest and, in the end, gave her blessing for the album’s release. It was an exciting and deeply significant moment for me to present the Variations to her, as it is an unconventional work in the world of classical music. Alexandra expressed her appreciation and gave me the green light to move forward with working on the lost D minor suite, which we premiered in its first part at Carnegie Hall on 29 January with violinist Taisiya Losmakova and cellist Sergey Antonov, the Gold medallist of the Tchaikovsky competition.