Symphoniker Hamburg / Alexander Gavrylyuk / Harry Ogg

Rachmaninov had been living with his wife on Lake Lucerne in his newly built villa »Senar« (Sergei & Natalia Rachmaninov) for four years when he composed his Rhapsody on a theme by Paganini in 1934. The theme comes from the last of the 24 Caprices for solo violin, which are so technically tricky that they contributed significantly to Paganini’s reputation as the devil’s violinist. The curious list of composers who were inspired by Paganini’s theme ranges from Brahms and Liszt to Szymanowski, Blacher, Lutosławski and Andrew Lloyd Webber. Rachmaninov uses the theme as the starting material for a series of 24 variations with an introduction and coda, ingeniously combining the structure of the work with that of a three-movement concerto. Adaptations of the opulent 18th variation (in the rare key of D flat major) can be found in films as well as pop songs and video games. In the seventh variation, Rachmaninov also introduces the »Dies irae« – a cross-reference that appears like a signature in many of his works and also recurs at the end of the variations.