LPO: Rachmaninoff, Inside Out

It’s rare that the music of Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff fails to delight an audience. Something about his oh-so-familiar sound world, with its long, Romantic melodies, its ominously evocative harmony and its sheer dramatic excitement seems always to please - and as such The London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Rachmaninoff: Inside Out concert series is one of the most exciting of the season.
For this instalment, which will feature hotshot young pianist Pavel Kolesnikov, we will be treated two Rachmaninoff's thrilling Third Piano Concerto and Second Symphony.
Both pieces were conceived in a time of great productivity for Rachmaninoff. In1906 he left his turbulent life in Russia, for Dresden, to enjoy a period of calm and stability which eluded him before and after. Second Symphony was finished the year after the move, and was met with great acclaim - a relief to the composer whose first symphony had been seen as such a disaster, he’d spiralled into a dark depression. He revises the work obsessively before the first performance, which he conducted himself, and is no seen as an example of symphonic mastery.
His Third Piano Concerto was written a few years later, finished in the the September of 1909. His previous concerto was by this point considered a masterpiece, but his this offering didn’t disappoint. What he created is famous for being one of the most demanding piano works of all time. Not only is the sheer technical requirement seen as impossible by many top pianists, but the depth of emotion perceived as required to play it, is a step too far for many top musicians. Fortunately young Russian pianist Pavel Kolesnikov appears to be up to the job - he’s recently won several international piano competitions, and is tipped as a future great. If it works, it’ll be spellbinding.