Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.2

A piano plays a chord in the silence, and a chain of sound grows, swells, and breaks into passionate, endless song. No question, the great Romantic composers knew how to unleash emotion: whether it’s Tchaikovsky diving into the whirlwind of a doomed love or Puccini creating melodies to melt the heart. Or, indeed, Rachmaninov uniting a glittering piano and a sumptuous orchestra in a concerto that could have been written for our soloist, Boris Gilt...