As Robert Schumann was recuperating in 1845 from a severe episode of depression, he immersed himself in the study of Bach, the fruits of which can be heard in his Symphony No. 2. Schumann used the famous B-A-C-H motto in the second trio of his orchestrally virtuosic Scherzo and quoted the trio sonata of Bach’s Musical Offering as the main melody of the achingly beautiful Adagio, which he also intensified with a bit of fugue.

Come for:

Martin Chalifour, the LA Phil’s commanding Principal Concertmaster, plays Bach’s joyously energetic Violin Concerto in E as a prelude to Schumann’s Bach-besotted and joyously enigmatic Symphony No. 2.

And more:

The famously thoughtful conductor and pianist Christian Zacharias opens this fascinating program with Stravinsky’s neo-classical Danses concertantes, the first work that Stravinsky composed after he moved to the U.S. in 1940, commissioned by film composer Werner Janssen for his own Los Angeles orchestra and premiered here – with the composer conducting – in 1942.