World-renowned pianist Peter Donohoe, a winner of the coveted silver medal in the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, returns to Liverpool as their soloist in Piano Concerto No 3 by Sergei Rachmaninov.
This concerto is regarded as one of the most technically challenging of all the standard piano repertoire and is both thrilling and romantic in performance. Rachmaninov treats us to some of his most appealing music, melody follows melody with unerring facility.
The concert opens with the tone poem Scheherazade, by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov. This music is an orchestral tour-de-force based on One Thousand and One Nights, the well-known collection of Middle Eastern folk tales. Throughout the work Rimsky-Korsakov uses his prevailing theme as The Sea in all its many guises. We go from calm to a major storm, to a quiet and peaceful evening. Scheherazade is packed full of luscious orchestration and melody.