Piano Concerto No 2 by Sergei Rachmaninoff, is often described as the best piano concerto ever written, released in 1901 when he was 27 years old. Rachmaninoff had fallen into depression for three years following the negative criticism for his previous piano concerto, and this concerto marked his comeback and recovery from clinical depression.
The concerto was dedicated to Rachmaninoff's physician (Dr. Nikolai Dahl) who saved him from the downward spiral of his mental illness by helping him rebuild his self-esteem. After the treatment, Rachmaninoff said: “I heard the same hypnotic formula repeated day after day while I lay half asleep in an armchair in Dahl’s study. ‘You will begin to write your concerto… You will work with great facility… The concerto will be of an excellent quality.’ Although it may sound incredible, this cure really helped me.” And Dr. Dahl's words really came true; the concerto not only was of an excellent quality but is also considered one of the masterpieces in the piano repertoire.
The music in the whole concerto flows with amazing harmony and tunes. The second movement is a climax of emotion, an absolutely sentimental and captivating melody which has inspired several popular songs, including Eric Carmen's "All by Myself" and a number of films ("Brief Encounter", "The Seven Year Itch" starring Marilyn Monroe and Clint Eastwood’s "Hereafter") where the music was associated with the realisation of desperate and restrained passions of characters on the screen.
A suggested name for this composition: "The liberation".