John-Henry Crawford on Rachmaninoff

Celebrating the 150th anniversary of the composer's birth, John-Henry Crawford and Santiago Asuncion dive into the "singing" quality of the cello - an idea so often discussed that it's almost a cliché, yet also unmistakably perceptible in Rachmaninoff's music.

Placing arrangements of his vocal music alongside instrumental works (including a gorgeous arrangement for cello and piano of the famous eighteenth variation from the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini) shows the closeness of the relationship, and Crawford and Asuncion's musicianship draws out this expressive nature still further.

John-Henry was kind enough to offer some of his thoughts on the works recorded here, and his performing career more broadly...

(You can read a lightly-edited transcript of the conversation here).