Alexander Gavrylyuk’s electrifying performance of Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto at the BBC Proms on August 13, with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra directed by Thomas Dausgaard at the Royal Albert Hall, London, was a revelation. BBC Radio 3 and Channel 4 Television transmitted a truly grand musical occasion in which Gavrylyuk redefined the work’s dimensions as perhaps only the composer and Horovitz themselves managed.

In recent years, the only performances I heard which travelled anywhere near the Gavrylyuk galaxy were Grigory Sokolov’s. Both artists pay more than credible homage to Sviatoslav Richter at his best as well as to certain performances of Rachmaninov, Horovitz and Scriabin. Alexander Gavrylyuk is, easily, the most compelling pianist of his generation. As Schumann said of Chopin: “Hats off gentlemen, a genius.”

As soon as the soloist walked on stage and made his way to the piano the hall’s vast lighting apparatus was extinguished; what happened next was a magnificent bit of Prom planning. Unexpectedly, the visiting Latvian Choir emerged from the hall’s darkness singing a Russian Orthodox hymn from the Kiev region, Little Russia (Ukraine) – based on an ancient znamenny chant which holds a haunting affinity to the opening melody of Rachmaninov’s Third...