The magnificent “Emperor” piano concerto is Beethoven’s most innovative. Heroic in spirit, the “Emperor” combines a flamboyant gesture for soloist and orchestra together, seemingly at once declamatory and improvisatory.

Contrasting with this dramatic work, Michael Daugherty has written a fun and contemporary romp in Route 66, a rear-vision view of “main street America”.

The sixth symphony of Shostakovich embodies the tension between Shostakovich’s private feelings and his need to appease Stalin. It begins with a fierce, anguished Largo reminiscent of the Adagio from Mahler’s Tenth Symphony, before an explosion of exuberance in the agile Scherzo and joyfully exuberant Presto.