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Sir John Gielgud narrates this documentary by the award-winning director Tony Palmer, about the legendary Russian composer - whose fiendishly difficult third piano concerto (the 'Rach 3') is still seen as a benchmark for pianists. The film takes as its central theme the desperate journey which Rachmaninoff made with his wife and daughters on Christmas Eve, 1917, when they were feeling the deadly effects of the October Revolution. The music for the film has been specially recorded by a host of stars, including Valery Gergiev and the Orchestra of the Kirov, the stunning baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky, and the brilliant 17-year old pianist Valentina Igoshina.