I transcribed Rachmaninov's Seven songs for orchestra in 2002. Even by Rachmaninov's standards, the highly complex piano accompaniments to the songs are exceedingly demanding and seem to cry out for an orchestra. This is true of both the earlier and later songs. When preparing the orchestration, I could not ignore the composer's instrumental procedures as witnessed in related contemporary works (Piano Concerto no. 4, Liturgy of Saint John Chrysoston, The Bells, Symphonic Dances etc.) and with these in mind, I endeavoured to appropriately recreate Rachmaninov's idealised sonority.

Zoltán Kocsis