Like his compatriot Rachmaninov a pupil at the Moscow Conservatory of Sergey Taneyev and of Arensky, Aleksandr Grechaninov went on to study in St Petersburg with Rimsky-Korsakov. He was occupied in the 1890s chiefly with church music, and his second setting of the Liturgy of St John Chrysostom was rewarded with a life pension from the Tsar (which was discontinued at the Revolution of 1917). After successful concert tours abroad, Grechaninov settled in Paris in 1925, moving to the United States in 1939.

Stage Works
Grechaninov wrote incidental music for the theatre, and a number of operas, some for children, linked to his work with children’s choirs.

Orchestral and Chamber Music
Generally conservative in his musical language, Grechaninov composed five symphonies, and concertos for cello, for violin and for flute. His String Quartet, Op. 2 won him first prize from the St Petersburg Chamber Music Society in 1893; he went on to write three more string quartets.

Piano Music
Some of Grechaninov’s shorter piano pieces were once a familiar part of children’s keyboard repertoire.