Pianist Daniil Trifonov plays Rachmaninoff’s “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini”

Tonight at 7:00 on the Evening Concert on WILL-FM 90.9.  Daniil Trifonov is the pianist in Rachmaninoff’s “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini” with the San Francisco Symphony.  Osmo Vanska guest conducts. Also on the program Sibelius’s “Night Ride and Sunrise” tone poem and his Sixth Symphony.

Wednesday June 10: San Francisco Symphony (SFS #15-11)

Osmo Vanska, conductor;

Sibelius: Night Ride and Sunrise, Op.55
Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op.43 (Daniil Trifonov, piano)
Stravinsky: Symphonies of Wind Instruments
Sibelius: Symphony No.6, Op.104
Haydn: Symphony No.60 in C major

*The first story is that Rachmaninoff is quoted as saying that the18th Variation [which has become a 'most-famous' classical music work] was "...for my agent". The second story regards the anecdote about Rachmaninoff using a glass of Creme de Menthe liqueur to steady his nerves before the first performance, leading to the superstitious habit of that behavior before each performance that followed. (Source: Steinberg, Michael. "The Concerto: a listeners guide". p. 367-370. Oxford University Press, 1998 via Wikipedia article on the composition).