Episode Details

Sergei Rachmaninoff suffered a creative breakdown so severe after the failure of his First Symphony that he could not compose for three years. Hypnotherapy brought him back, and he wrote his Second Piano Concerto — one of the most popular pieces of classical music ever composed. Then revolution took his country, and he spent the rest of his life in exile.

This episode follows Rachmaninoff from his Russian childhood through his psychological collapse, his recovery, the Bolshevik Revolution that forced him to flee with nothing, and his decades as a touring virtuoso in America.

• His creative breakdown lasted three years until hypnotherapy sessions restored his confidence
• His Second Piano Concerto is one of the most performed and recorded concertos in the repertoire
• He fled Russia after the 1917 Revolution with almost no possessions and never returned
• His hands were legendarily large, able to span thirteen piano keys, giving him a unique technical advantage