Alan Gilbert conducts Rachmaninoff and Stravinsky featuring Kirill Gerstein, piano

For pianists, Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto stands as the ultimate challenge—the Mt. Everest of the concerto repertoire.

With his third ballet, Le Sacre du printemps, Stravinsky secured his place as the foremost composer of his day. He took two years to prepare his daring score, following a vision the composer had in 1911 of a young girl in pagan Russia, dancing herself to a ritual death surrounded by village elders.