It is hard to believe that music as confidently athletic and effusively lyrical as Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto could be the product of low self-esteem and writer’s block. But following the excoriation of his First Symphony after its 1897 premiere, Rachmaninoff became increasingly depressed and could not write a pair of promised concertos. Sessions with a hypnotist finally helped, and Rachmaninoff returned from a Mediterranean tour in 1900 with the sketches for what would become one of most popular pieces.

Come for:

Winner of the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition and the International Tchaikovsky Competition, 21-year-old Daniil Trifonov performs one of the most beloved of all piano concertos.

And more:

A new piece by beat-oriented UCLA composer Adam Schoenberg.