Fiona Maddocks: Goodbye Russia - Rachmaninoff in Exile review - an affectionate biographical portrait

★★★★★ FIONA MADDOCKS: GOODBYE RUSSIA - RACHMANINOFF IN EXILE An affectionate biographical portrait

The Russian composer’s later years recounted with a delightful eye for walk-ons

In 1917, in the face of the Bolshevik revolution closing in on his country estate, Rachmaninoff fled Russia, never to return. He was 44, at his peak as composer, pianist and conductor, but spent the rest of his life in exile in the US and Switzerland, amassing a fortune and worldwide reputation as the biggest draw in classical music – but never reconciling himself to being separated from his homeland. As he lay dying, he insisted on a Russian nurse, his wife reading Pushkin to him.

Album: Barb Jungr and Her Trio - My Marquee

★★★★ BARB JUNGR & HER TRIO - MY MARQUEE Taking well-known songs - and deepening them

Taking songs by The Who, Small Faces, Yardbirds - and deepening them

Barb Jungr has made a speciality – some might even say her own art form – out of taking well-known songs, and discovering far more subtlety and meaning in them than people ever knew they had. As she explains in the notes accompanying My Marquee: “ I love well-constructed songs with lyrics that, however apparently simple, can yield other levels of interpretation and subtlety.” One writer has called what she finds in these songs “confessional depth”.

Kozhukhin, BBCSSO, Menezes, Usher Hall, Edinburgh review - shimmering Saariaho and moody Mendelssohn

Italian-Brazilian conductor takes full command in her Scottish debut

How apt that on her first visit to Scotland, Italian-Brazilian conductor Simone Menezes would lead the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Mendelssohn's Third Symphony, the “Scottish”. Though there may not be many particularly "Scottish" sounding melodies in this piece, its overall sound conjures up the brooding moods of the Scottish landscape.

Pavel Kolesnikov, Samson Tsoy, QEH review - piano magicians conduct themselves beautifully

★★★★★ PAVEL KOLESNIKOV, SAMSON TSOY, QEH Supernatural Prokofiev and Rachmaninov

Supernatural sounds in Prokofiev and Rachmaninov

Shortly before his death, Rachmaninov proposed recording the two-piano version of his swansong Symphonic Dances with Vladimir Horowitz. A curse on that RCA executive who turned the offer down. What amazes is how much pianistic magic can make up for the orchestral wizardry of the more familiar incarnation. The Kolesnikov-Tsoy duo is the one to redisover it now, and they did the same for Mikhail Pletnev’s recreative genius in music from Prokofiev’s Cinderella.

Bartlett, National Symphony Orchestra, Weilerstein, National Concert Hall, Dublin review - edgy darkness, blazing light and high camp

★★★★★ BARTLETT, NSO, WEILERSTEIN, DUBLIN Edgy darkness, blazing light and high camp

Dazzling work from young pianist and conductor matched by top orchestral playing

Who’d have thought Florence Price, Rachmaninov, Gershwin and Brahms would all fit the (unspoken) theme of 1930s America? Brahms made the bill by virtue of Schoenberg’s 1937 arrangement of the C minor Piano Quartet, so outlandish and camp that you’d be tempted to credit Stokowski as the orchestrator. Like Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on the Theme of Paganini, it needs vertiginous audacity: that came in spades from conductor Joshua Weilerstein and pianist Martin James Bartlett.

Ohlsson, BBC Philharmonic, Storgårds, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - a Rachmaninov special

★★★★★ OHLSSON, BBC PHILHARMONIC, STORGARDS A Rachmaninov special

A consummate pianist in complete control of a concerto Everest

Maybe he thought it was a relaxing way to celebrate his recent 75th birthday – maybe he just fancied a trip to Manchester to play with the BBC Philharmonic – either way there was something very special to hear in Garrick Ohlsson’s Rachmaninov Third Piano Concerto on Saturday.

Album: Everything But The Girl - Fuse

Duo return after a quarter of a century with something original and electronically enhanced

24 years since their last album, it’s pleasing to have Everything But The Girl back. That voice! They were conceived amidst post-post-punk “new pop” conceptualism, consistently made hit albums for 15 years, and only quit because they’d become bored of the naff entertainment industry circus. Happily, as only happens with a few bands who reappear after decades, Fuse does not disappoint.

Bavouzet, Manchester Camerata, Takács-Nagy, Stoller Hall, Manchester review - spirit of the 1780s

★★★★ BAVOUZET, MANCHESTER CAMERATA, TAKACS-NAGY Spirit of the 1780s

Historically informed playing and a delight to hear

It was very much the formula as before, as Jean-Efflam Bavouzet and Gábor Takács-Nagy moved their edition of the Mozart piano concertos a step closer to completion with Nos. 11, 12 and 13.

Album: Lana Del Rey - Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd

The latest from the sultry American singer is overlong but contains gold

Compared to her peers, Lana del Rey is mightily prolific. This is her eighth album since her breakthough 11 years ago (her ninth in total). Her last album appeared 15 months ago. There’s still much she wants us to hear. Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd is an hour-and-a-quarter long. It sprawls. It could do with an edit, but as so often when talented musicians sprawl, there are also gems.