Yuja Wang and the Unbearable Lightness of Shostakovich

The last work of Rachmaninov, the unbearable lightness of Shostakovich's Second Piano Concerto and the enchanting world of Mathilde Wantenaar. The Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra brings it all together effortlessly.

Rachmaninov's resounding biography
With his Symphonic Dances from 1940, Sergei Rachmaninov wrote not only a resounding biography, but also a final work that was as anxious as it was carefree. Dies irae is juxtaposed with jazz influences, quotations from his own work are heard alongside wonderful new orchestrations. A new work by Mathilde Wantenaar is the perfect introduction to this wonderful work by the tormented Russian.

Shostakovich's jazzy swing
In his 1957 Second Piano Concerto, Dmitri Shostakovich also follows milder and more light-hearted paths than we are used to hearing from the composer. Only in the masterly Andante does he adopt a more serious tone. Shostakovich composed the work as a graduation project for his son, who played it during his final piano examinations. The corner movements in particular, which seem to have been written for the piano phenomenon Yuja Wang, require an almost jazzy swing from the symphony orchestra.