Lilacs op. 21/5

Elena Sharkova’s arrangement of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s song Lilacs retains the romance’s gentle, flowing melody, the text and music suggesting a flight of imagination or dreaming, and an unfulfilled search of happiness. Written by Rachmaninoff in April 1902 as part of a series of twelve Romances for solo voice and piano, all romances of this opus are short in length, emotionally intense and laconic in text. Ms. Sharkova offers a pronunciation guide and spoken recording for the Russian text.