CBSO Beethoven and Rachmaninov

One concert: two epic dramas. ‘C’est l’empereur!’ cried a French soldier, at the first performance of Beethoven’s Fifth Piano Concerto, and the name has stuck. And fair enough: with its majestic proportions and stirring melodies, this is a concerto on a truly imperial scale – and a challenge even for a virtuoso of the calibre of our soloist tonight, Louis Lortie. Rachmaninov’s tremendous Second Symphony is even grander in scale; a passionate journey through a vast Russian landscape, with some of the most romantic music even Rachmaninov ever wrote. Danish maestro Thomas Dausgaard has this music pulsing through his veins; expect soaring emotions and sweeping drama, from first note to last.