NSO And Jaime Martín: Ian Wilson, Rachmaninov, Rimsky-Korsakov by Wilson, I., Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff, Rimsky-Korsakov, Fr. 12 Mai 2023, Ab (2023/2023), Dirigat Jaime Martín, National Concert Hall (NCH), Dublin, Irland

The acclaimed Kirill Gerstein makes a long-awaited return to the National Symphony Orchestra with a luxuriant Rachmaninov piano concerto as Chief Conductor Jaime Martín conjures exotic Arabian Nights fantasies in an hypnotic orchestral jewel. Hailed for ‘the kind of serious, intelligent and virtuosic music-making that keeps classical music alive’ (The Observer), Kirill Gerstein joins for Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto. Unabashedly lyrical and passionate, the yearning melody at its heart famously used in David Lean’s iconic 1945 film Brief Encounter, it’s a work of bravura brilliance for soloist and orchestra alike flexing its red-blooded Russian soul in some of the most immediately unforgettable, achingly beautiful and romantic music ever to sway lovers and listeners. Magical, mysterious and mesmerising, and taking its inspiration from a classic tale in The Arabian Nights, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade evokes all its magic and mystery, romance and drama in a ravishing orchestral showcase that makes rich and vivid use of orchestral sections to unforgettably ink in its tale of peril, poetry, playfulness and passion. Ian Wilson’s bold, brassy, image-saturated Man-o’-War is a brilliant, incident-filled soundtrack to an imagined film that brings the violent, storm-tossed, becalmed and hellish life on board a sail-driven warship into vivid, visceral immediacy.