Valery Gergiev conducts Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky – With Denis Matsuev

Star Russian pianist Denis Matsuev is a frequent musical collaborator of the great Russian conductor Valery Gergiev, and the two musicians regularly tour and record together. Together with the celebrated Münchner Philharmoniker, Gergiev and Matsuev share the stage once more for the evening's opening work, Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 4, Op. 40. The work, revised and edited over the course of 20 years following its 1927 premiere, was written at a transitional point in the composer's career, and shows broad influences ranging from jazz (notably Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue) to the music of Alexander Scriabin.

Gergiev then leads the Münchner Philharmoniker in a work by another beloved Russian composer, Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 in B minor, "Pathétique". The last symphony the composer completed, the Sixth Symphony's first performance was led by Tchaikovsky himself in October 1893, just days before his untimely death.