Joel Hill asked:

>How come most records use the "off" ending, but most search engines don't
>work unless you use the "ov" ending? Maybe someone with a Russian
>background can explain.

Hi, I'm a Russian Studies major in Canada.  In transliteration (turning
Cyrillic to Roman characters) it's spelled "Rakhmaninov".  But, the "ov"
is pronounced "off" in Russian.

So, the "off" ending is poor transliteration which became popular overtime
because no one knew or cared.  Translators keep the inaccurate spelling
because people are so familiar with it.

Same with Stravinsky -- it should be Stravinskii.

And Tchaikovsky -- it should be Chaikovskii.

The worst is when I see Tschaikovsky, because it just doesn't make any
sense.  the "Ts" is an entirely different letter.

Hope that helps,
Nathan