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鈥檚 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 Giltburg. 鈥淓very note pulses with life and warmth鈥� was how one critic described his playing, and the same could be said when guest conductor Ludovic Morlot shares Roxanna Panufnik鈥檚 vivid new versions of Alma Mahler鈥檚 neglected love songs.
