Werk: Blagoslovlyayu vas, lesa (I bless you, forests), Op.47 no. 5

Never mind the piano concerto marathons, 2023 will not see a finer anniversary tribute to Rachmaninov than this song recital.

At the cloakroom, it was already clear that this evening was not going to be standard fare at the Staatsoper. Russian was in the air, and Russians had bought their fair share of the tickets to this completely sold out event: wearing extravagant gowns, sporting elegant hairstyles and reserving bottles of champagne for the interval. There was plenty of Russian fare on the programme too.