''A widely published musical journalist, Max Harrison writes in a cultivated and comfortable British English... pleasingly free from jargon'' ''Harrison seems to have set himself the task of not only presenting the chronology and circumstances of Rachmaninoff's life and works with scrupulous clarity and care but also to refute the denigration of Rachmaninoff's original works that became fashionable when the composer settled in the U.S. after feeling the Bolshevik Revolution''   Dennis D. Rooney, ARSC Journal, Spring 2007

"[Michael] Scott's (founder, London Opera Society; The Great Caruso) book on pianist-composer Sergey Rachmaninoff [Rachmaninoff] is almost entirely biographical, unlike Barrie Martyn's Rachmaninoff: Composer, Pianist, Conductor and Max Harrison's Rachmaninoff: Life, Works, Recordings, which combine biography with musical analysis (both have musical examples, but Scott's book does not)...Martyn and Harrison offer superior examinations of Rachmaninoff's music...Martyn's and Harrison's books also have illustrations...For a general treatment of Rachmaninoff's life and music, Harrison's book is the best." -Bruce R. Schueneman, Library Journal, February 1, 2009

"an impressive achievement, the result of meticulous research and a long, deep association with its subject...Its tone is crisp, energetic and omniscient...no one who is interested in any aspect of this great musician's legacy can afford to miss Harrison's engaging, scholarly and, yes, inspiring biography."

Jeremy Nicholas, Gramophone

"Max Harrison's comprehensive biography treats the life, works and recordings exactly as stated in the subtitle. A chronological survey of all three together in the course of thirty-nine relatively short chapters, supplemented by a section of fifty-four musical examples similarly ordered, a list of works both by chronological order and classification, an abbreviated discography and the bibliography. By keeping the chapters short, it is easy to peruse the reference notes at the end of each one. These are almost all explanatory and entertainingly informative widely published musical journalist. Max Harrison writes in a cultivated and comfortable British English. It is pleasingly free of jargon...  Harrison sees to have set himself the task of presenting the chronology and circumstances of Rachmaninoff's life and works with scrupulous clarity and care.... Rachmaninoff's reputation was never in danger even in the final decades of his life, and both recordings and conductors who enjoy programming what audiences wish to hear have made its creative output better known and more highly esteemed than ever. Most composers' reputations bottom out a century after their birth but Rachmaninoff's is greater than ever.For readers of this journal, Rachmaninoff's own recordings will be a central interest. Harrison discusses each one in more detail than is usual. Particularly valuable is his discussion of the duplication of repertoire. He compares both the published recordings with the series of the piano rolls that Rachmaninoff recorded for Ampico during the twenties."

ARSC Journal

"Anyone deeply interested in the music of Rachmanimov who would like to really know about the Russian master's composition process will find Rachmaninov:Life, Works, Recordings to be of great interest."   "there's no doubt that Harrison knows Rachmaninov's music in detail"   "An intense and in-depth read, this is a book for real Rachmaninov aficionados."   Pianist, No. 37, August-September 2007

Pianist

Nominated as a finalist for the Association for Recorded Sound Collections, Classical shortlist.

Finalists for the 2006 ARSC Awards for Excellence