Kent Nagano conducts Adams and Rachmaninov – With Alexei Volodin

In this concert, the OSM mix Rachmaninov's Russian Romanticism with two brilliant works of John Adams' American minimalism in one exciting concert. Adams' first orchestral work written after the landmark Shaker Loops, the minimalist 1979 Common Tones in Simple Time opens the concert, and its "common tones" described by the composer as referring to "signal moments of harmonic modulation in the piece, changes of key or mode." Then comes Adams' 1985 Harmonielehre, which was inspired by a dream he had after experiencing 18 months of writer's block, and draws its title from the German word meaning "study of harmony."

In between Adams' orchestral works, the OSM presents Rachmaninov's beloved Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, a work for solo piano and symphonic orchestra that resembles a piano concerto composed after the 1917 Russian Revolution while the composer was in exile. Alexei Volodin, the accomplished Russian pianist described as "the next Matsuev", takes the stage for this incredibly virtuosic work.