Symphonic Dances

Symphonic Dances was Rachmaninoff’s final major work. Inon Barnatan comments, “A few years ago, I came across a unique recording from 1940: a rough, private capture of Rachmaninoff playing through his Symphonic Dances at the piano for conductor Eugene Ormandy, ahead of the premiere orchestral performance. It’s not clear whether Rachmaninoff knew he was being recorded – he famously refused live recordings of his playing – but what it offers is a rare, intimate glimpse into the imagination and sound world of one of the greatest pianists in history. Hearing him play it alone revealed something transformative: the whole piece was conceived on a single piano. That realisation – along with the promise of spontaneity and expressive freedom – made me want to create my own solo version. In the spring of 2020, when life had been abruptly placed on pause, I finally had the time and space to dive in. I spent weeks at home, writing and learning the transcription. From early morning to late at night, I worked at the piano, completely engrossed. In a time of immense uncertainty, the music was a source of clarity, solace, and joy.”

Inon Barnatan is widely recognised as one of the most compelling pianists of his generation, praised for his poetic sensibility, probing intellect, and musical depth. Described by the New York Times as ‘a true poet of the keyboard,’ he was the inaugural Artist-in-Association of the New York Philharmonic and has performed with many of the world’s foremost orchestras, including the Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, London Philharmonic, and Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, and has collaborated with such conductors as Michael Tilson Thomas, Alan Gilbert, and Osmo Vänskä.

Equally at home in solo, concerto, and chamber repertoire, Barnatan is the Music Director of La Jolla Music Society’s SummerFest in California and a regular presence at leading festivals around the world. A passionate advocate for contemporary music, he has commissioned and premiered works by Thomas Adès, Sebastian Currier, Andrew Norman, and many others.

Barnatan’s acclaimed discography includes Rachmaninoff Reflections – featuring his own arrangements of Vocalise and Symphonic Dances – as well as a complete Beethoven concerto cycle with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, and solo and chamber recordings spanning Schubert, Brahms, Messiaen, and beyond.