Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Liege: Sergei Rachmaninov and Ernő Dohnányi

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Liège conducted by Gergely Madarás performs works by Sergei Rachmaninoff and Ernő Dohnányi.

After the failure of the First Symphony, Sergei Rachmaninoff was in a deep spiritual crisis for several years and did not take on large forms. Only in the early 1900s was he able to return to active composition, starting to write a concerto for piano and orchestra. This work is dedicated to Dr. Nikolai Vladimirovich Dahl, a well-known psychotherapist at the time, who had mastered the skills of hypnosis. It was his daily sessions that helped the composer overcome the uncertainty that weighed on him. The Second Concerto marked the beginning of a new period in Rachmaninoff's work. The composer performed the concerto in its entirety for the first time on October 27, 1901 in Moscow at the symphony meeting of the Philharmonic Society conducted by Alexander Ziloti.

The writing of the Second Symphony by the Hungarian composer Ernő Dohnányi coincided with the events of World War II, the German occupation of Hungary, during which thousands of Hungarian Jews, including several of Dohnányi's colleagues, were moved to concentration camps. Dohnányi completed the symphony in Austria, where he had, oddly enough, moved in November 1944, and published it under the pseudonym Ernst von Dohnányi. It became the composer's last symphony. In the 1950s, it was revised.

PERFORMERS:

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Liège

Conductor - Gergely Madarás

Piano - Denis Kozhukhin

WORKS:

S. Rachmaninoff. Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18

E. Donányi. Symphony No. 2 in E major, Op. 40

Philharmonic Hall, Liege, 2024