Brahms’ Second Piano Concerto

Leif Ove Andsnes calls Brahms’ Second Piano Concerto “glorious and happy music” that sets soloist and orchestra in a perfectly balanced dialogue. Despite its fiendish technical difficulty and symphony-like scale, Brahms’ Second doesn’t wear its heart on its sleeve but instead glows with carefully crafted elegance—especially in Andsnes’ capable hands that “[blend] intimacy and bravura” in the piece (Chicago Classical Review). By contrast, Bernstein’s Symphony No. 1, nicknamed “Jeremiah” for the Biblical prophet, bristles with raw emotional power. Daniel Harding leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic through Bernstein’s haunting and poetic First, expressing the composer’s self-described “crisis of faith” in a modern and tumultuous world. The concert begins with the colorful, jazz-infused Latest by Paris-based composer Betsy Jolas, who turns 100 years old in 2026. Aptly titled, this percussive piece is one of Jolas’ more recent works, but certainly not her last. “Old age has fortunately no