Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto

Perhaps no work in the piano literature captures as much awe and terror as Rachmaninoff’s Third Concerto. At first thought to be impossible to play, it now rests at the apex of the repertoire, celebrated for both its technical demands and swelling melodies. Soloist Francesco Piemontesi, who “combines stunning technique with an intellectual capacity that few can match” (The Spectator), scales this acme with Joana Mallwitz, one of ELLE’s “Creatives Shaping Culture in 2025.” Mallwitz also dives into 1930s Europe with Kodály’s charming Dances of Galánta, based on the folk tunes the composer heard on his trips from Budapest to Vienna. Written in 1934, a year after the Nazi Party seized control of Germany, Hindemith’s Mathis der Maler Symphony encounters nothing less than German culture, tradition, and the artist’s duty in society.