The Performance Diary is a catalogue of all known performances and recordings by Russian composer, pianist and conductor, Sergei Rachmaninoff. It has been compiled with the generous assistance of the Rachmaninoff Network and the Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation.
The current website is the third edition of the project, which first appeared in 2011 and was later comprehensively updated in 2017. The current version was published in 2023, and incorporates over 20 years of research.
The previous versions presented specific program data for Rachmaninoff’s work as a conductor, concerto soloist, chamber musician, and in gramophone and piano roll recording sessions, almost all of which had been published. In regard to his prolific career as a solo pianist, in the main only the location and dates of performances had been known.
My chance discovery of research undertaken by Rachmaninoff’s sister-in-law, Dr Sophia Satina, in the Rachmaninoff Archive of the Library of Congress (LoC, Sergei Rachmaninoff Archive, ML31.R33, Papers of Sophie Satin, boxes 82-89) has now augmented the catalogue. Through writing to concert halls, libraries, and newspapers around America and Europe, she worked to ascertain specific program details for Rachmaninoff's many recitals, her guiding source being a notebook he carried with him from 1907.
The current iteration of the Performance Diary presents data from Satina’s research for the period up to Rachmaninoff’s arrival in the United States in late 1918. It also presents program data for all concerto soloist, conducting, and chamber music performances for the remainder of his career, in a more complete program format. The data for Rachmaninoff’s later work as a solo pianist, however, is for now presented only for the season 1924/25, but will in time be available for all of his recitals post 1918.
In the Performance Diary, all dates of concerts that took place in Russian territories before 1918 are listed in the Julian calendar, and are so noted. Concerts during this time that took place in Europe and America are listed in the Gregorian (Western) calendar, as are all later dates.
Many of the initial performance details listed here were compiled from Zarui Apetian’s research, published in Literaturnoye Nasledie [Literary Heritage] (Sovietskii Kompozitor: Moscow, 1980, vol. 3, pp. 439-467). These details were subsequently cross-referenced with other published sources, and with iteneraries and additional corroborating materials collected by Dr Satina. Where there has been doubt or discrepancey about a concert or location, this has been noted in the relevant entry.
In Rachmaninoff’s early professional career, the majority of recital works were his own, while later recitals featured a significantly greater number of works by other composers. Apetian's book presents lists of repertoire for each of his professional seasons post 1909, while works played by other composers are also listed in Barrie Martyn’s Rachmaninoff: Composer, Pianist, Conductor (Scolar Press: London, 1990). A transliteration of Apetian's repertoire lists can be found here.
Details of Rachmaninoff’s acoustic recording sessions were compiled from Martyn’s research (pp. 453-497); likewise, for Rachmaninoff’s conducting career prior to 1909 (pp. 532-562). In regard to recordings, details outlining when a take was approved for mastering and subsequent release are based on Martyn's system of codification.
All of Rachmaninoff’s first 10 recordings for Edison were given release. Later ones, unless indicated, were recorded by Victor. The recording of the folk song ‘Bublichki’ that occurred at a private party c. 1942 cannot be listed until a more precise date is available, as is also the case for the recording of Polka Italienne played by Rachmaninoff and his wife Natalia (c. 1942).
Details for piano rolls were compiled from notes accompanying Wayne Stahnke’s two CDs entitled A Window in Time (Telarc: CD 80489 and CD80491), written by Stahnke and Daniel Pollock (1996). The information was later verified through a photocopy of the recording company’s original ledger, kindly supplied by Mr Stahnke.
Additional information about concerts and premieres of Rachmaninoff's compositions has been compiled from A Catalogue of the Compositions of S. Rachmaninoff by Robert Threlfall and Geoffrey Norris (Scolar Press: London, 1982). Further research into Rachmaninoff’s earliest performances was undertaken by me at the Glinka Museum of Musical Culture, Moscow, and programs in the archive were used to verify dates and to confirm repertoire at certain early concerts.
Unless otherwise stated, images of concert programs are from the Rachmaninoff Archive of the Library of Congress, and appear with kind permission of Mrs Natalie Wanamaker Javier.
The Rachmaninoff Performance Diary is an ongoing project, and anyone with an image of a program, a review, or other material is welcome to contact me via the form.
I wish to express heartfelt gratitude to John Irving for his tireless work in getting the second edition of the Performance Diary online, and to Prakash Salavedu Subramanian for creating the third edition. I also thank Elger Niels and Ettore Volontieri for their ongoing support, and Rhys Butterworth for his many hours of data entry.
Scott Davie
Sydney, 2023