Roman Rabinovich

Roman Rabinovich is a pianist who appears with symphony orchestras and in recital, and is also known for his work as a composer. In Jacksonville he performs Brahms's First Piano Concerto, a large, stormy work written in the composer's twenties, alongside Tchaikovsky's final symphony, the "Pathetique."

Rabinovich's performances tend to favor clarity and structural thinking over surface display, an approach that suits Brahms's First Piano Concerto, a piece that opens with churning orchestral turbulence before the piano enters with somber, exploratory chords rather than a flashy solo statement. Listeners can expect the concerto's long first movement to unfold with attention to how the piano and orchestra argue and answer each other, followed by a hushed, hymn-like slow movement and a finale that finally lets rhythmic energy break through. The rest of the program, Tchaikovsky's Sixth Symphony, is the composer's last completed work, ending not in triumph but in a slow, sinking final movement, so the evening moves from Brahms's youthful struggle toward Tchaikovsky's darker, more resigned conclusion.