BBC SO/Stasevska by Clyne, Rosner, L., Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff, De la (2021/2021), Dirijor Dalia Stasevska, Barbican Centre, London, United Kingdom

Exuberance from Anna Clyne and Lior Rosner is followed by the melancholy of Rachmaninov’s lustrous and impassioned third symphony. Sadness weighed heavy on the shoulders of the exiled Serge Rachmaninov in the 1930s. The prospects of him mustering the will to write a third symphony looked minimal. But on the shores of Lake Lucerne, imagining the plush, lustrous sound of the great symphony orchestras of the day, Rachmaninov produced a score whose gentle reminiscences of Russia gave way to an impassioned, fighting spirit, mirroring the 62-year-old composer’s own predicament. BBC SO Principal Guest Conductor Dalia Stasevska returns to conduct Rachmaninov’s whirlwind of a symphony, after the glistening exuberance of Anna Clyne’s Masquerade and a world premiere from the LA-based award-winning composer, Lior Rosner.