For this concert we offer some very personal selections.

Mozart’s 40^th Symphony is perhaps his most famous, a work in which Mozart set out to compose, in his own Classical idiom, a work that would be unprecedently and uncompromisingly tragic. We offer the first movement of this work — played alone, it feels like a gigantic overture to a theatrical tragedy.

At the same level of emotional intensity is the first movement of Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony, the “Pathétique”. Many hear this as an extremely personal work, expressing Tchaikovsky’s premonition of his own (as it turned out, prompt and tragic) fate.

We also offer two excerpts from Giuseppe Verdi’s opera La Traviata that capture Violetta’s struggle between love and sacrifice: her moving duet with Germont, who asks her to give up Alfredo, followed by the passionate duet between Violetta and Alfredo as she prepares to leave the man she loves.

Rachmaninov’s “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini” combines dazzling piano writing, playful wit, and sweeping romantic expression. Its inventive transformations of Paganini’s theme range from fiery brilliance to the soaring lyricism of the beloved 18th variation.