Facing the Music: Sergei Rachmaninov: Fear of Failure

Kit Harington narrates how Rachmaninov - Russian music’s brightest star - was floored by paralysing writer’s block after a catastrophic premiere in 1897. And how - through one doctor’s remarkable and controversial therapy - the composer overcame it, to create a masterpiece. Listen on BBC Sounds.

In this episode, Kit Harington is in the psychiatrist’s therapy room with the Russian composer to discover how Rachmaninov found the courage to create again. After his First Symphony was mocked and pilloried by critics, the composer suddenly found himself unable to write a note - assailed by a crippling fear of failure. But through the talking therapies of Dr Nikolai Dahl - including an early form of hypnosis - Rachmaninov slowly came back to himself, to create one of his most cherished works: the Second Piano Concerto.