As a composer Rachmaninov was the last of the great Russian masters of the late nineteenth century. His music is imbued with a fatalistic sense of melancholy expressed in broad melodies. In addition to his well-known concertos and symphonies, his songs and works for solo piano display his musical mastery in more subtle form. The orchestral Fantasy The Rock is full of atmosphere, achieved through superb orchestration. His masterpiece is the Choral Symphony The Bells, in which all his remarkable powers as a composer are fused and unified. Using a Russian version of Elgar Alan Poe’s The Bells as the texts for each of the four movements, Rachmaninov creates a unique sound-world, using orchestra, chorus and vocal soloists to spellbinding effect.