CBSO - Rachmanioff - Second Piano Concerto and Tchaikovsky - Symphony No. 5, Symphony Hall, 5☆☆☆☆☆. Review: David Gray & David Gray.

CBSO – Rachmaninoff - Second Piano Concerto and Tchaikovsky - Symphony No.5, Symphony Hall, Wednesday 18th June 2025 (with the Tchaikovsky repeated the following day) 5***** (18th June); 5***** (Matinee,19th June); Reviewer: David & Paul Gray

Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto is a guaranteed crowd-puller - and rightly so: it is a magnificent work. And in this performance by Hisako Kawamura, it was given a rapturous performance to a packed house.

Kawamura - together with glorious conducting from Kazuki Yamada - gave us a wholly fresh and new reading of this evergreen work which, in many ways, probably saved Rachmaninoff's sanity, if not his very life itself.

The Concerto was written in 1901, after the composer had suffered years of depression and mostly fruitless creativity. The depression lasted around three years and may well have been brought about by the fairly disastrous premiere of his First Symphony (1897). The audience were bewildered by the work. Fellow composer & critic César Cui suggested that the symphony was fit only to “delight the inhabitants of Hell”. It probably didn't help that the premiere was conducted by a visibly drunk conductor, the composer Alexander Glazunov!

It is highly likely that Rachmaninoff was bipolar. Rachmaninoff described his experience of the illness as a “paralysing apathy”. Eventually he was persuaded to see Dr Nikolai Dahl, a musician himself and a specialist in hypnosis. Dahl asked Rachmaninoff to keep repeating phrases such as: “You will begin to write a concerto. You will work with great facility. The concerto will be of excellent quality.” And, thus, the Second Piano Concerto was born.

Indeed, the sound-world of the Second Piano Concerto - its construction, form, melodic, harmonic, rhythmic and textural invention - is quite simply extraordinary. And in this fresh and vivid performance, pianist - Hisako, conductor - Kazuki, and band - CBSO, brought out every detail, giving us a performance full of colour, light, passion, technical brilliance and vibrancy.

In the second half was Tchaikovsky’s magnificent and mighty Symphony No.5. This was given an outstanding performance by the CBSO under Kazuki Yamada.

The work is constructed around a motto theme; a short, signifier motif – a bit like Wagner’s use of leitmotif, or “leading idea”, which the Cambridge English Dictionary describes as “a phrase or other feature that is repeated often in a work of art, literature, or music and that tells you something important about it”.

As the four movements of this symphony unfold, the motto adapts itself to the needs of both the musical structure and emotional meaning of the work. Thus: we move from a dark & sombre statement of the motto at the opening of the first movement; to a slow second movement (where the motto is clearly associated with the idea of love); to a Scherzo full of dancelike fun; and a fourth, where the motto is the source material for a monumental march of joy and positivity. In very simple terms this symphony represents a journey from dark to light; sadness to joy.

It is Tchaikovsky’s use of a motto which helps explain the meaning of this journey to us, and that also  helps create a sense of unity and cohesion to what is – at around 50 minutes – a long and complex piece of musical storytelling.

Kazuki Yamada – Conductor                                                                                                                                            

Hisako Kawamura - Piano