Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2

Santtu-Matias Rouvali leads the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra in some of the greatest masterpieces of symphonic music. Sergei Rachmaninoff’s aching second piano concerto is the highlight of the evening.

Santtu-Matias Rouvali selects the best from his repertoire as the concert season comes to a close, and with it, his time as an immeasurably popular chief conductor. Longing and romance are present in Rachmaninoff’s second piano concerto. This piece is known to history for its moving melodies and virtuosic playing. Rachmaninoff himself became known as one of the best pianists of his time.

Soloist is Norwegian pianist Christian Ihle Hadland, for several years one of the neighboring country’s most famous stars in the classical world.

It has been 80 years since Bela Bartók died in 1945. His concerto for orchestra is among his top accomplishments, and Bartók described the music as a journey from severity, through ominous song, to a life-affirming conclusion. Here, the orchestra has an opportunity to showcase the skills of all its soloists. Each movement is full of ingenuity and a rich offering of musical influences from an entire life.

As an introduction, we hear Central European folk songs in the magnificent tone poem Haakon Jarl by Czech Bedrich Smetana. Smetana had a strong connection to Gothenburg and lived here while composing the partly true story of the Viking king who refused to accept Christianity.