St Petersburg Symphony Orchestra
T011598813
Archive :: production:T011598813, concert:S1247039943, venue:V156
Production details
Maybe it's the expressive woodwind; maybe it's the blazing power of the brass. Or maybe it's just the way that each musician seems to commit, body and soul, to every note they play. But it's undeniable: there's nothing on earth quite like great Russian music being played by a great Russian orchestra. The Saint Petersburg Symphony Orchestra has an incredible history - this is the very group that premiered Shostakovich's Seventh in wartime Leningrad. But tonight it's all about romance, as the stunning young Anglo-Russian violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky joins the orchestra for Tchaikovsky's lyrical Violin Concerto, and Alexander Dmitriev conducts Rachmaninov's huge, sweeping Second Symphony. With its stormy vistas, passionate melodies and rapturous love-song of a slow movement, Rachmaninov's Second might just be the most romantic symphony ever written. And you'll never hear it played with more intensity, authenticity, or sheer love than you will tonight.