The Philadelphia Orchestra / Daniil Trifonov / Yannick Nézet-Séguin

Russian-American dream team

Sometimes one single fan can make a huge difference to a composer. This was the case with Sergei Rachmaninov and Leopold Stokowski: Stokowski, Music Director of the Philadelphia Orchestra from 1912 to 1938, was so taken with the Russian composer’s sumptuous scores that he worked them into the orchestra’s DNA. And the love was mutual: Rachmaninov regularly worked together with the Philadelphia Orchestra, both as a pianist and as conductor. He also wrote works like the Paganini Variations especially for the orchestra with its celebrated dark and glowing »Philadelphia sound«. Proof that this artistic relationship is still very much alive is furnished by Stokowski’s current successor Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who himself just released several Rachmaninov albums with the orchestra, and is now appearing in Hamburg with a programme dedicated to the »last Romantic composer«.