Pianist Joyce Yang knows exactly why Rachmaninoff’s music is so powerful, and so popular. “There is so much nostalgia in his music – even if it’s new to your ear, it will tap into an emotion that’s very personal, it will give life to something you already know.”

Who knows what those emotions will be? Perhaps it will be the deep melancholy from the middle of the Third Piano Concerto, or maybe you’ll be swept up in the exuberance of the finale.

The Third Symphony might reach out with its feelings of bittersweet regret and the tragedy of exile – the sounds of Orthodox chant hinting at a Russia remembered. Or perhaps it will be the rhapsodic grandeur and majestic orchestral colours that move you. Whatever the feeling, Rachmaninoff is always genuine and heartfelt.

Rautavaara’s vividly sonorous music for brass and percussion begins with fanfares and ends with the gentle austerity of tears – clearing the way for the poignant introduction of Rachmaninoff’s concerto.

RAUTAVAARA A Requiem in Our Time
RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No.3
RACHMANINOFF Symphony No.3

Edo de Waart conductor
Joyce Yang piano

Pre-concert talk by Scott Davie in the Northern Foyer, 45 minutes before each performance.

AUDIO PLAYER LISTING

Track 1 – RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No.3: 1st movement
Track 2 – RACHMANINOFF Piano Concerto No.3: 3rd movement
Alicia de Larrocha, piano; London Symphony Orchestra conducted by André Previn DECCA ELOQUENCE 461 348-2

Track 3 – RACHMANINOFF Symphony No.3: 2nd movement Track 4 – RACHMANINOFF Symphony No.3: 3rd movement Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy DECCA 455 789-2

Audio kindly supplied by Universal Music.