Rachmaninov - Piano Concerto #2, Third Movement

Sergei Rachmaninov was born on this date in 1873. In the first half of the twentieth century he was something of a cultural icon, embodying a romantic (and Romantic) concept of The Artist. He (or actually an actor playing him -- he died in 1943) even makes a cameo appearance as a character in the film Dr. Zhivago.

For this recording he acts in the dual role of composer and performer, playing the piano in his second concerto for that instrument. This is the the final movement, containing a melody so infectious it later was made into the popular song "Full Moon and Empty Arms." Leopold Stokowski conducts the Philadelphia Orchestra in a recording made in 1929.