Proms 2017 Prom 63: Taneyev, Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky

Continuing his season-long Tchaikovsky Project, which included performances earlier this summer with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Semyon Bychkov conducts an all-Russian programme that climaxes with the composer’s vividly programmatic symphony Manfred. Translating the struggles of Byron’s hero (who celebrates his 200th anniversary this year) into music proved a challenging task for the composer but the result is a glorious musical epic, full of drama and colour.

Kirill Gerstein is the soloist for Rachmaninov’s youthful Piano Concerto No. 1, concluding our cycle of the composer’s piano concertos with a work whose stormy beauty is a natural companion for Taneyev’s brooding Oresteia overture.

Image: Kirill Gerstein © Marco Borggreve