Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3 & Youth Symphony - Silvestrov: The Messenger

Anna Fedorova completes her Rachmaninoff Piano Concertos cycle, performs extensively around the world, raises significant funds for humanitarian aid and continues her support of young musicians.

Anna Fedorova is up there with the busiest classical musicians of the world, having played 125 concerts in the past twelve months. The opening concert of the Verbier Festival with the Verbier Festival Orchestra under Gianandrea Noseda, a solo recital at La Roque d’Anthéron, a tour across Europe and the US as the soloist with the Ukrainian Freedom Tour, a critically acclaimed performance of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Kirill Karabits at the Barbican, and... 114 more concerts.

But that is not all. Anna Fedorova recorded Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto in November 2022, was featured as the cover story of KLM’s Holland Herald, Pianist Magazine UK, Pianist Magazine NL, Magazin Pianist, and Luister Magazine, as well as founding and opening a brand new music academy for young and talented piano & string students in the Netherlands: the Davidsbündler Music Academy in The Hague.

Now, in 2023 - the year of Rachmaninoff’s 150th birthday - Anna Fedorova concludes her cycle of Rachmaninoff’s complete works for piano and orchestra on Channel Classics. She embarked on this journey three years ago, together with the Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen, conductor Modestas Pitrenas and producer/engineer Jared Sacks. Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto will complete the cycle and is scheduled for release on May 5th (Digital, Germany & UK), May 12th (Rest of World).

“As I am writing this, we are almost one year into the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Many people think we should not perform Russian music for a while, but I find performing his music very important nowadays, not just because his music is so beautiful, powerful and emotionally fulfilling, but also because of his story: he himself was a victim of the Russian state. During the 1917 revolution, he was forced to flee his home country with his family and then spent the rest of his life in the USA. His music is a glorious part of humanity’s shared heritage and we need Rachmaninoff by our side fighting for life, humanity and all that is good in this world!

Rachmaninoff’s Third piano concerto is one of the grandest piano concertos ever written. It has incredible compelling power and demands mobilisation of all the physical, creative and emotional abilities from both soloist and orchestra. Some moments feel as if you are climbing a mountain, but then always comes the moment of reaching the highest peak with an incredible sensation of breathtaking freedom, power and the feeling of wings growing behind your back! At the same time this composition is very romantic and intimate by its nature, sort of a lyrical confession from the composer.

The solo piano piece The Messenger was written by Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov, soon after his wife passed away. In the silence he kept hearing this simple pure Mozartian melody, it was coming to him as a message from above. The Messenger is a musical meditation which connects our world with heaven. It is a thought for my country and fellow Ukrainians and an eternal message of light, peace and hope for the future.”

- Anna Fedorova, February 2023