Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra with Maria Ioudenitch, violin

Rachmaninov’s Symphony wears its heart on its sleeve. It simply flies by, each unforgettable melody seemingly lovelier than the last.

It’s an hour-long slice of unabashed Romanticism that grabs your attention from the ominous opening bars to its thunderous conclusion. There are darker undercurrents in this stream of inspiration, though, as Rachmaninov’s obsession with the Gregorian funeral chant, the Dies irae, sometimes bubbles to the surface. So Saint-Saëns’ lively depiction of Death summoning skeletons at midnight by playing his fiddle seems an apt place to start proceedings. With its swooning strings and a xylophone’s bare bones wooden rattle, it is a seductive evocation of things that go bump in the night.

Russian-born but Kansas-raised, lavishly gifted young violinist Maria Ioudenitch brings a fierce intensity and eloquence to Prokofiev’s sweetly lyrical, dashingly virtuosic Concerto.

“Flowing, songful, shapely. Ioudenitch delivers her solos with pinpoint accuracy.” The Arts Fuse