Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony at City Halls by Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff, Simpson, M., MacMillan, De (2015/2015), Director Andrew Litton, City Halls, Glasgow, Reino Unido

It’s hard to imagine a creative spirit more Russian than Rachmaninov – or more Scottish than James MacMillan. But like any truly great artists, both composers take the local and make it universal: Rachmaninov in the most grandly romantic of all late Romantic Symphonies, MacMillan in a piano concerto that began life as a ballet score, and pulls three centuries of Scottish musical history into a whirling, dazzling reel. Peter Donohoe leads the dance tonight, while Andrew Litton will make the music soar – and smash a bottle of champagne on the bows of a brand-new orchestral work by the young Liverpool composer Mark Simpson.