For a work composed by an avowed “Classicist”, Saint-Saëns’ Second Piano Concerto in G Minor is a highly unconventional and original piece. I’ve never quite bought Stokowski’s quip that it “begins with Bach and ends with Offenbach”, although the opening of the first movement does reveal itself as the composers take on a JS Bach improvisation. Each movement is faster than the previous one. What amazed me about young Alexandre Kantorow’s performance was the intensity of the opening cadenza and the subsequent tutti passages where it’s hard to imagine that it’s a chamber orchestra we’re hearing! 

His treatment of the soloist’s role is always powerful but never lapses into brashness. In the second movement a Mendelssohnian Allegro scherzando, (the only movement which found favour with the premiere audience) and described perfectly by one critic as “dapper”, his tone changes from blazing glare to a burnished shimmer and he and the orchestra play off each other perfectly. In the Presto saltarello finale, the maintenance of complete control at that tempo is almost miraculous. Up until now, my favourite performances of this concerto have been...