The glittering caravan that is Eurovision 2023 will soon roll into Liverpool and set up camp along the waterfront and around the Pier Head. The song contest kicks off on 9 May, with the final on the 13th. Reflecting the circumstances of this year’s event, which should have been hosted by Ukraine, the slogan is “united by music”. These words could apply to Liverpool, a Unesco city of music bubbling with sonic activity, any time in its modern history. Merseyside’s musical associations stretch back centuries.
Last week the star British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor made his Liverpool concert debut as soloist with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra – founded in 1840 and one of the world’s oldest orchestras – in Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto. We are in the 150th anniversary year of the Russian composer’s birth. This favourite work is on every concert schedule. Predictability and familiarity are hazards. Not here. Vitality and invention made this performance exceptional. Balance was ideal, the exchanges between pianist and woodwind lithe and expressive, violas – sitting on the outside of the cellos – notably revelling in their prominent solos.
