Image Courtesy of Springfield Orchestra

A concert that is anything but routine began with a routine conversation. As conductor Kevin Rhodes was checking in with Tom Parker, one of the many agents whose rosters he scours for exciting soloists, Parker suggested he take a listen to thirty-two-year-old Russian pianist Alexander Ghindin's recording of Rachmaninoff's original version of his First Piano Concerto. The recording on the Ondine label, which features no less than Vladimir Ashkenazy conducting the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, greatly impressed the maestro of the Springfield Symphony.

"I love the guy's playing," Rhodes nonchalantly explained by phone from Paris, where he was in the midst of preparations to conduct an all-Balanchine evening at the Paris Ballet. "I'm also a huge Rachmaninoff fan. While we've done two of the symphonies, several tone poems, the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini and the Second and Third Piano Concertos in my nine seasons in Springfield, we'd never done the First Concerto. So this was our opportunity."

Although Ghindin lacks the flashy hairdo and photogenic appeal that earn young artists major recording contracts with the majors, he is hardly a slouch at the keyboard. After winning the Moscow Young Pianists' Competition in 1991 at the age of 14, he became the Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition's youngest prizewinner at the age of 17. Ghindin then went on to win Second Prize at the 1999 Queen Elisabeth Music Competition in Brussels, graduate from the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory in 2001, and nab First Prize at the 2007 Cleveland International Piano Competition. He's already recorded fifteen CDs, a few of which are available in the U.S., and performed in Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall, Lincoln Center, the John F. Kennedy Center, Amsterdam's Concertgebouw and a host of other prestigious venues.

Rachmaninoff finished his first piano concerto in 1891 as a graduation project for the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Although his quintessentially romantic scoring and dazzling virtuosic passages made for a huge success, the composer was dissatisfied, and revised the work extensively before his departure from Russia in 1917.

"Rachmaninoff's signature voice is very much in evidence," says Rhodes, "but there's a bit of Tchaikovsky and Grieg thrown in that shows his connection to the 19th century. While he wrote the concerto before he knew the value of economy of means—there are fewer themes in the First Concerto that could easily be turned into pop songs—you can instantly tell who wrote it from the arpeggios and chordal figures and wild runs."

There are numerous versions of the Rach One available. In addition to Ghindin's recording of the original version, conducted by pianist Ashkenazy, Rhodes is partial to Ashkenazy's version, conducted by pianist André Previn, and Earl Wild's rendition with Jascha Horenstein. The latter, recorded over 40 years ago, is available on an audiophile-quality CD transfer from Chesky Records, and downloadable in uncompromised, CD-quality sound from HDTracks.com.

To Rhodes' mind, Brahms' Second Symphony makes for a perfect pairing. "It's probably the cheeriest of his four symphonies and concertos," he explains, "and seems a good fit for New England's snowy climate. It's also one of those pieces that are fantastically perfect. Its construction is amazing, with not one note on the page that's padding or filler. Even some sort of innocuous bass line turns out to be the main theme augmented with a changed interval. And the slow movement is the perfect tearjerker, because it doesn't make you want to rip your heart out as some other slow movements by Brahms make you want to do. The whole thing is so good that it makes you smile."

Which leads to the concert's classic opera overture opener. One of the "fun" overtures that Rhodes tended to program for New Year's Eve concerts during his conducting stint at the Opera House in Basel, Switzerland, Donizetti's overture from his anything but fun opera, Roberto Devereux, includes variations on "God Save the Queen" and its fair share of zippy orchestral fireworks.

On the down side, it also includes a few sharp chords that signify the decapitation of the Earl of Essex. Maybe the executioner was having a grand old time. Rhodes' description is all the more reason to attend his pre-concert lecture, where you can gain insight into what makes his baton beat as it does.

Kevin Rhodes and the Springfield Symphony perform in Springfield Symphony Hall on Saturday, January 23 at 8 p.m. For tickets, call 413-733-2291 or see www.springfieldsymphony.org.