Hélène Grimaud plays Gershwin's Piano Concerto

The early decades of the 20th century saw many composers experimenting across genres, none more so perhaps than George Gershwin and Kurt Weill – Gershwin the virtuoso tunesmith from the Big Apple who brought jazz to the concert hall and opera house; Weill the Berlin-trained modernist turned music theatre iconoclast who, after escape from the Nazis, landed on Broadway. The two are juxtaposed here in this thrilling Houston Symphony programme conducted by Christian Reif. After a lively curtain raiser – Julia Perry's A Short Piece for Orchestra – come's Weill's Symphony No. 2 and then, with Hélène Grimaud as soloist, Gershwin's jazz-inspired – and gloriously tuneful – Piano Concerto in F.