Copland, Shostakovich & Tchaikovsky

Yuja Wang plays Shostakovich’s Second Piano Concerto and Michael Tilson Thomas conducts Tchaikovsky. Big personalities for big pieces.

With some artists, the name is enough. 'Yuja Wang’s pianism inspires a sense of wonder' wrote one critic after she played solo at the Barbican. In partnership with Tilson Thomas in the delightfully playful concerto that Shostakovich wrote for his teenage son, she’ll shine like a diamond.

But any jewel needs the right setting, and Tilson Thomas begins with a letter from America: a tender homage to home and family by a composer who gave a voice to a nation. Then he turns to Tchaikovsky for a celebration of the Russian spirit at its most unbuttoned. 'Little Russia' is what they used to call Ukraine, and when Tchaikovsky takes a handful of folk-inspired melodies and a headful of symphonic genius, the results are simultaneously romantic and an absolute riot.