SIBELIUS Spring Song GRIEG Piano Concerto RACHMANINOV Symphonic Dances Joshua Weilerstein conductor Alessandro Taverna piano
Rachmaninov composed the Symphonic Dances shortly after fleeing war-torn Europe for the United States. The work is rhythmically animated and truly symphonic in style, proportions, and sonority, with melodies that could only be his. At once nostalgic and sarcastic, sensual and sinister with touches of the grotesque, strange harmonies create an atmosphere of unease and anxiety before reaching a final demonic "dance of death".
