A very happy birthday to Sergei Rachmaninov - 1873; and to Sviatoslav Richter (1915). Those who turn up their delicate noses at Rachmaninov's music are depriving themselves of a huge joy: uniquely stirring, magnificently constructed, utterly sincere - his music is a miracle.
Rachmaninov was a constant frustration to Scriabin, who, though himself a prodigy, continually came second to (the slightly younger) Rachmaninov in their counterpart and harmony exams. Somehow people seem often to forget that Rachmaninov was a brilliant choral and vocal composer.