For Riccardo Chailly, celebrating Rachmaninoff in Lucerne is something dear to his heart. In 2022, the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and their music director devoted themselves to the Second Symphony and the Piano Concerto No. 2, the most famous of all four Rachmaninoff concertos. “The harmonic ideas are his special hallmark. One need only hear three chords to recognize his creative genius immediately,” Chailly once said of Rachmaninoff’s timbres. Japanese pianist Mao Fujita took on this grandiose work’s emotional power and virtuosity. Since winning the Silver Medal in the Tchaikovsky Competition in 2019, this exceptional artist has been playing in the world’s most renowned concert halls.
Lucerne Festival Orchestra
Riccardo Chailly
Mao Fujita, piano
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, op. 18
Symphony No. 2 in E minor, op. 27
Recorded live at the Concert Hall of KKL Luzern August 2022
