Rachmaninov and Friends: Trio Wanderer

Rachmaninov’s life and career crossed over the 19th and 20th centuries, and took him from Europe to the US. In this series we hear his music alongside works by his friends and contemporaries.

The young Rachmaninov wears his heart on his sleeve, as Trio Wanderer give a rare performance of his sweeping Trio élégiaque No 2.

‘All my thoughts, feelings, powers belonged to it … every phrase made me tremble.’ The young Rachmaninov idolised Tchaikovsky, and when the great master died suddenly in 1893, he poured all his sorrow into a piano trio on an epic scale, as ambitious as it is passionate. As part of our exploration of the music of Rachmaninoff and his friends, it’s played today by Trio Wanderer – the acclaimed French ensemble whom The Strad described as having ‘a near-telepathic musical sensibility’.