Barry Douglas’s performances of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concertos prove to be popular with his audiences. Following a “sublime” interpretation of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 3 at the Palacio de la Ópera in Spain, Barry has been commended for his performance of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 at the Teatro de San Carlo, Italy.

Alongside the Orchestra del Teatro San Carlo and conductor Vladimir Fedoseyev, Barry delivered a performance that was ‘Modern, dense but characterized by a beautifully essential phrasing … rendered with rare lucidity, especially thanks to the clarity of the dynamic details and the flowing of the melodic lines.’ [La Quinta Giusta]

This piece in particular sees Rachmaninov focussing intently on technical elements, predominantly present in the close-hand sections. This is a style dramatically different from that seen in his other well-known works such as Vocalise, where he highlights the ‘easy seductions’ more obviously through flowing melodic lines.

Barry has an action-packed week ahead with concerts at the Naantali Music Festival, Finland. He will be playing both Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 21 in C Major as well as Elgar’s Piano Quintet in A minor before he then heads to USA for a variety of masterclasses and performances at PianoTexas Festival.