Praags Radio Symfonisch Orkest . Daniel Raiskin

'As well as its poetic sensitivity, his playing was also at a high intellectual level'. The critics have run out of superlatives to bestow on the brilliant German piano virtuoso Severin von Eckardstein. Since winning first place in the Queen Elizabeth competition in 2003, his career has soared. Here, he has chosen the perfect work with which to show-off his unrivalled pianist's qualities: Chopin's Second Piano Concerto, where the piano is especially dazzling, in all its glory. The Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra is subsequently able to display its brilliant orchestral colours in Smetana's 'The Moldau' and in Stravinsky's 'The Firebird'. Smetana coloured his music so as to reflect the sound of the mightiest river in Bohemia. It is undoubtedly his best-known work. 'The Firebird' is a richly orchestrated piece of ballet music, 'on an extravagant scale' according to Stravinsky. Its instrumentation is quite simply brilliant.