Hindemith

Overture, Cupid and Psyche

Rachmaninov

Piano Concerto No.2

Brahms

Symphony No.2

Vasily Petrenko

conductor

George Li

piano

Brahms wrote his Second Symphony by a lake in the Austrian Alps, and you can feel that holiday spirit in every note. Vasily Petrenko’s Brahms Symphony Cycle reaches some of the happiest music Brahms ever wrote, and it’s a wonderfully sunny way to follow the midnight mood of Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto (yes, it’s the one from Brief Encounter), performed by 2015 Tchaikovsky Competition medallist George Li – a true star, making his Liverpool debut. All this is prefaced by the lively opening Hindemith Overture.