This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” get a piece of the Rach!

With the impending sesquicentenary of the birth of Sergei Rachmaninoff on April 1, enjoy an hour of historic performances.

We’ll hear Rachmaninoff play his own “Symphonic Dances” in a recently rediscovered, fly-on-the-wall recording, captured surreptitiously at the home of Eugene Ormandy in 1940. Then Ormandy will introduce – and conduct – the Philadelphia Orchestra, in a special memorial performance of Rach’s “Isle of the Dead,” given only days after the composer’s death, in 1943.

We’ll round out the hour with a literal party piece – as Rachmaninoff tosses off the Ukrainian folk song, “Bublichki,” or “Bagels,” in 1942.

The recordings are from a 3-CD boxed set issued by Marston Records, the record label of industry legend Ward Marston. Now based in West Chester, PA (he was born in Philadelphia in 1952), Marston is one of classical music’s most revered audio engineers. Incredibly, he has been blind since birth.

Marston’s work in restoration and conservation of historic audio has been both miraculous and rapturously received. His acclaimed remasterings have appeared on the Andante, Biddulph, Naxos, Pearl, RCA, and Romophone labels. For more information and a complete catalogue of Marston Records releases, visit marstonrecords.com.

Then join me for an hour of Sergei Rachmaninoff in vintage recordings. That’s “Rach of Ages,” for the 150th birthday of Sergei Rachmaninoff, this Sunday night at 10:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.