Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos 3 & 4, Leif Ove Andsnes (piano), LSO/Pappano – review

The passion burns from within in this incendiary account of Rachmaninov's third and fourth piano concertos. The amplitude of his melodies, the rich scoring and the insistent Russian melancholy are most potent when kept under control. The poetic, muscular Andsnes, sensitively and glitteringly accompanied by Pappano and the LSO, does just that. The third, written for a money-spinning tour of America, was an instant hit. The fourth, more problematic and bluesy, still has power to stir. Even not being Russian or in exile or tormented by mental conflict, you succumb to the mood of nostalgia and homesickness. And I was at home at the time.