This biography of Russian composer-pianist Anton Rubinstein, places him within the context of Russian and western European musical culture during the late 19th century, exploring his rise to international fame from humble origins in Bessarabia, as well as his subsequent rapid decline and marginalisation in later musical culture.

The first volume delves into the origins and development of the Russian piano concerto, comparing and contrasting the concertos of Anton Rubinstein, Tchaikovsky, Balakirev, Mussorgsky, and Taneyev, among others, with those of their European progenitors. Among the elements that gave the Russian piano concerto genre its particularly unique and colorful flavor was the introduction of materials extracted from Slavic folk songs and orthodox chant of the...