Breaking Rachmaninoff (2023)

"Breaking Rachmaninoff " is a humorous loving documentary about the search for a great composer who managed to overcome his depression by spelling his own name wrong. Much like Rachmaninoff, who struggled to be taken seriously as he stuck to his post-romantic com positional style, in this documentary, Igudesman - also an immigrant and a prolific composer - tries to be honest about the innate insecurities of composers. The fact that Rachmaninoff was born on the 1st of April lends itself perfectly to Igudesman's famously hilarious antics. So what to do? Easy: simply send Sergei a whole lot of text messages trying to invite him to his own celebration. As Igudesman travels the world, interviewing celebrity musicians from various genres, he explores various subjects with his intimate, fun, yet insightful line of questioning. Loved by showbiz greats, Rachmaninoff 's melodies have been repeatedly turned into songs and hits by Frank Sinatra and Eric Carmen. During interviews with top music stars, Igudesman gets behind how Rachmaninoff redefined pianist standards- even if it was just due to his unusually large hands - as well as how he coped with depression, and addresses how problematic and common depression is for artists. And last and probably least, is it really true that Rachmaninoff spelled his name with ff at the end, in order to make it sound louder?