A little heartwarming tale to go alone with another serving of brilliant music by Rachmaninoff.

The piece is Prelude No.12 in G-sharp Minor from his Thirteen Preludes, Op.32. It is the pinnacle out of the entire work in my opinion, if not one of the more popular Preludes Rachmaninoff wrote. I wouldn't say it's the most dramatic as the No.10 in B Minor from this work sets quite a precedent as well.



The performer's name is Alex Stobbs. He unfortunately has cystic fibrosis, a genetically-inherited diseases that slowly destroys the lungs and digestive system causing progressive disability. It is one of the most common diseases in younger populations in European nationalities with one in twenty-two people of European descent carriers of one gene for CF, making it the most common genetic disease in these populations.

Taken from Youtube video description:

Alex has a particularly virulent form. Over the years, the disease has attacked his bones and left him partially deaf, especially distressing for a musician.

There is no cure. Without the massive cocktail of drugs pumped into his bloodstream day and night, Alex would not be alive today.

Neither the drugs nor the disease will stop Alex from now taking on the greatest musical challenge of his life: to conduct a performance of Bach's epic choral work, the Magnificat, before an audience of several hundred people in the glorious setting of Eton's 15th century chapel

As Alex explains,

'Music makes me forget about where I am or what state I am in or what's happening to my lungs. Music is my hope. It's everything.'