Brahms’s First Piano Concerto is a quintessentially Romantic composition that awes with its grand scale, passionate emotion, and muscular piano writing. Igor Levit, “one of the essential artists of his generation” (The New York Times), explores the beauty of this powerful work. Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra thrills with its irresistible virtuosity, vast palette of vibrant orchestral colors, and lively folk-dance rhythms. There’s wit, too; listen for the fourth movement parody of the march from Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony.