PREVIEW: Albany Symphony Pairs Rachmaninoff, Elgar, and Thompson in Sweeping Program
04/18-19 @ Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, Troy
Photo by Gary Gold
“This may be the most romantic piano concerto ever written.”
There are certain pieces of music that feel less like compositions and more like emotional landmarks, the kind you return to again and again and somehow hear differently each time. This weekend, the Albany Symphony brings three of those experiences together in one sweeping program: Ohlsson Plays Rachmaninoff 2 and Elgar’s Enigma Variations, taking place April 18 and 19 at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall.
Led by longtime Music Director David Alan Miller, the program moves across eras and emotional depths, pairing the lush romanticism of Sergei Rachmaninoff and Edward Elgar with the contemporary voice of Joel Thompson. At its center is a performance by internationally acclaimed pianist Garrick Ohlsson, whose relationship with Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 runs with no bounds.
“We are thrilled to welcome my dear friend Garrick Ohlsson,” Miller proclaims. “He is one of the greatest pianists walking the planet, and this concerto is a real specialty of his.” It is not a casual statement. Ohlsson’s career, which includes winning the International Chopin Piano Competition and performing with the world’s leading orchestras, has long been defined by his command of the Romantic repertoire. His approach to Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto balances power with lyricism, bringing clarity to a piece often celebrated for its emotional intensity.
Composed in 1901 after a period of personal and artistic crisis, the concerto marks a turning point for Rachmaninoff, a return to confidence that resonates through its sweeping melodies and dramatic structure. From the opening chords to the expansive second movement, the piece unfolds with a kind of emotional longing. “This may be the most romantic piano concerto ever written,” Miller states, a sentiment that feels less like hyperbole and more like recognition of the work’s enduring pull.
The program opens in a very different space with Thompson’s To See the Sky, a work that feels both intimate and bolstering. Known for compositions that engage audiences everywhere, Thompson creates music that invites reflection without losing its immediacy. “I hope this piece will be a source of solace and inspiration,” Thompson states, describing a work that draws from the idea that sometimes perspective requires looking inward before reaching outward. The music begins with a sense of searching, gradually building toward moments of clarity.
Placed alongside Rachmaninoff and Elgar, Thompson’s work creates a conversation across time, linking the emotional language of Romanticism with a contemporary voice that continues to evolve.
Photo of Joel Thompson by Rachel Summer Cheong
That idea comes fully into focus in Elgar’s Enigma Variations, which closes the program. Written in 1899, the piece transforms personal relationships into sound, with each variation offering a portrait of someone from the composer’s life.
“It’s such an intimate, heartfelt piece,” Miller says. “He creates musical portraits of the people who meant the most to him.” The variations move between humor, tenderness, and grandeur, culminating in the famous Nimrod movement, a passage that has become synonymous with reflection and quiet emotional weight.
For audiences, the experience is less about analyzing each piece and more about allowing the music to unfold. The program invites listeners to move through different emotional landscapes, from the personal to the universal. It is a kind of journey that feels particularly resonant in a live setting, where the immediacy of performance adds another layer to the performance as a whole.
On Saturday evening, audiences can deepen their experience through a Crescendo Club event at the Hart Cluett Museum, where Christopher Brellochs will guide attendees through the historical and cultural context of the program. It is another example of how the Albany Symphony continues to build community around its performances, creating space for conversation as well as listening.
For the Capital Region, concerts like this reinforce the role of the arts as both anchor and invitation. They offer a chance to encounter world class musicianship close to home while also creating shared experiences that resonate beyond a single evening. As Miller puts it, the goal is simple but profound: to transport audiences through passion and powerful storytelling.
This weekend, that story unfolds in three distinct voices, each one offering its own way of seeing and feeling the world through music.
For more info and to buy tickets, visit www.albanysymphony.com.