Live, On demand, Streamed event: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Piano Concerto no. 3 in D minor, Op.30

All the light, tuneful melodies and tuttis of the Ninth Symphony are still somehow Shostakovich, but a Shostakovich during a rare period where he seems to be taking antidepressants.

It can’t be easy for conductor Andrés Orozco-Estrada to have to play second fiddle to senior maestros on the Vienna Philharmonic’s tour.

Curate's eggs are surprisingly common in the musical world: a disappointing concerto performance from an off-form Alexei Volodin but impressive results from Robert Trevino and the RPO in the main work.

Outstanding playing from soloist and Staatskapelle Dresden makes this a Prom to remember.

One of the great performances of a concerto which gets so many performances.

In an all-Rachmaninov evening, Riccardo Chailly and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra open the 2019 festival with a brilliant exploration of the relation of music to power.

Showcases of pure virtuosity by Denis Matsuev and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, under Leonard Slatkin, in performances of both Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade at Ravinia.

Despite wonderful contributions from Stanislav Kochanovsky and the Orchestre de Paris, a disappointing opening to the Philharmonie's Rachmaninov Weekend. 

In its chamber music textures, Shostakovich's 15th couldn’t provide greater contrast to Rachmaninov’s rainforest of notes in this Slavic double bill from Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony. 

A Russian double bill from the Rotterdam Philharmonic in their own turf under Stanislav Kochanovsky.

With his composer’s ear for detail, Pintscher also led a colorful performance of Bartók’s The Wooden Prince.

Paavo Järvi gave a real sense of occasion to the evening, though the Berlioz neither embraced frenzy nor nodded to the fantastical. 

All except stylistic purists should add ‘Lisitsa live in a Rachmaninov Concerto’ to their musical bucket list.

In an all-Russian programme, Agrest gave us a thoughtfully textured Tchaikvosky 4, while the ease with which Andrey Gugnin took on Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto was a delight.

Late romantic music in the key of D minor reigned at Saturday night’s Seattle Symphony performance.

Dutoit, Lugansky and the HK Phil perform at their finest in famous French and Russian repertoire.

José Luis Gomez saves the day for the RSNO at Usher Hall. 

Rachmaninov was not an especially religious man, yet he composed religious music, most famously the haunting All-Night Vigil (or Vespers) which was the climax to this evening's two Proms. 

The hometown Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá (OFB) proves big-league as they launch the Teatro Mayor Julio Mario Santo Domingo's Bogotá es la Rusia Romántica.

In the year of the composer's 70th birthday, Adams’ Doctor Atomic Symphony had everyone sitting up straighter. 

Garrick Ohlsson's performance is the highlight of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra's 2016/17 season opener. 

A journey of emotions with the Munich Philharmonic under Gergiev resplendent in Ravel and Richard Strauss, thought-provoking in Ustvolskaya, and Behzod Abduraimov electrifying in Rachmaninov.

Denis Matsuev's dazzlingly virtuosic account of Rachmaninov's Third Piano Concerto was contrasted by Yuri Temirkanov's gentle reading of Brahms' Second Symphony.

Vladimir Jurowski and the London Philharmonic paired two large-scale Romantic works from the early years of the 20th century

Cristian Măcelaru brought his pedigree as a conductor to the CBSO with Sibelius, Rachmaninov and Nielsen. How would he fare in Birmingham with such a varied programme?

Sir Mark Elder conducts the Hallé in Mussorgsky, Rachmaninov with Sunwook Kim and Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade.

A performance by Leo van Doeselaar on the Concertgebouw’s Maarschalkerweerd Organ in Saint-Saëns’ Symphony no. overshadows all else in the Concertgebouw.

Ashkenazy, The Philharmonia and Daniil Trifonov on top form in Sibelius and Rachmaninov at the Royal Festival Hall

A very exciting evening at Poole’s Lighthouse with the BSO and artist in residence Sunwook Kim playing Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto together for the first time. 

Carl Nielsen’s lively, genial nature permeated the whole performance of his "Espansiva" Symphony last night at the Barbican. 

A deeply satisfying instalment to the LPO’s Rachmaninov series contained two towering masterpieces presented in very different ways – lightness of touch in the concerto and emotional sweep in the symphony. 

Paavo Järvi and the Philharmonia Orchestra in exciting Russian masterworks

If Russian-born pianist Kirill Gerstein were to launch into orbit, he would far outdistance the Soyuz Space Station.

Rattle's return found the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in glorious form for this performance of two popular masterpieces.

Yuja Wang has the virtuosity for Rachmaninov in spades and stamina to spare, but her technically brilliant performance raised the question of whether it all wasn’t a little too easy.

Yuja Wang joins the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel, demonstrating dramatic tempi and searing emotion throughout their program.

With the double bicentenary of Verdi and Wagner this year, other musical landmarks risk being eclipsed. But this October “La Verdi” commemorate the 140th anniversary of Rachmaninov’s birth with a series of concerts and lectures featuring all four of his piano concertos alongside works by other Russian greats.

The Madrid Symphony Orchestra has a busy season ahead. In addition to taking care of all the productions of the Spanish capital’s opera house, they are presenting a series of concerts in the Auditorio Nacional, the city’s concert hall. The first of these proposed a programme devoted to Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky – in itself, illustrative of the level of their ambition.

This evening’s Prom programme by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra was ambitious in its musical and conceptual scale: one of the most demanding piano concertos in the repertoire, a fate-laden symphony, and as if that were not enough, an orchestral account of the beginnings of the universe.

Thursday’s concert with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra started not with music, but with an award ceremony. It was the Norwegian Sibelius Society that gave away its annual award for the strengthening of cultural ties between Norway and Finland.

A neighbour at a recent visiting orchestra’s Edinburgh Festival concert asked me what I thought of the atonal frenzy in the pre-performance free-for-all; warm-up scales mingled with sneak peeks at tricky passages. My response was that a school orchestra would not be allowed to do this.

The Dallas Symphony Orchestra have had a couple of high-profile guest performers in town for their most recent series of concerts. They presented works by Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky, a piano concerto and a symphony respectively, in a program that, although disastrously designed, was redeemed by some stellar playing.

Thursday evening at Renzo Piano’s modern Sala Santa Cecilia in Rome, a program given of Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninov’s music was marked by grace, musical distinction, and infectious excitement. The excitement was brought by the pianism of the young Daniil Trifonov, who astounded with profound and agreeable musicality in the Piano Concerto no. 3 in D minor.

Rarely have I seen a conductor so excited! On completion of Shostakovich’s Festive Overture, Michael Seal looked like the cat that got the cream – and rightly so. He had just launched his audience into this concert with a terrific bang.

"A composer's music should express the country of his birth.." (Rachmaninov)Had Debussy adhered to his programme partner’s dictum, he might have struggled to write Images (1905-1912).

In the relay race of Russian Romanticism, Rachmaninov clearly took the baton from Tchaikovsky and made a dash for the finishing line. In transcribing some of Tchaikovsky’s works, he would have imbibed much of his genius, but he took the Romantic tradition into the 20th century in a new direction without losing its essence.

The evening’s music started with a piece I hadn’t heard before: Johan Svendsen’s Carnival in Paris, Episode for Orchestra Op.9.

En compagnie du pianiste Nelson Goerner, la phalange héraultaise a emmené son public fidèle dans une soirée festive, avec Michael Schønwandt en heureux maître de cérémonie. 

Au Verbier Festival, Lahav Shani envoûte une soirée russe d’une énergie maîtrisée, accompagnant avec panache Denis Matsuev dans un Concerto n° 3 de Rachmaninov de toute beauté.