London Philharmonic Orchestra: Nézet-Séguin conducts Rachmaninoff

Gershwin Piano Concerto in F
Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 2

Yannick Nézet-Séguin conductor
Jean-Yves Thibaudet piano
London Philharmonic Orchestra

In 1906 Rachmaninoff and his family left a politically turbulent Russia behind and escaped to Dresden. Here the composer relaxed, attended concerts and experienced one of the most productive periods of his life. Among its first fruits was his Second Symphony, a work that unlocked a new emotional power within the composer and saw him master both the orchestra and the symphonic form with flowing themes, vital rhythms and sumptuous textures. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts it here after a piece by Gershwin pulsating with the vibrance and energy of his New York home: the toe-tapping, dance-infested Piano Concerto with one of its finest exponents, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, at the piano.