A must-see concert, each piece as compelling as the last: Lang Lang’s fingers fly over the keys in a fiery Concerto by Saint-Saëns; a magnetic piece by Miroslav Srnka makes its French premiere; and we hear a Mozart symphony celebrating Parisian hedonism.

Is there credence to Alfred Cortot’s suspicion that Saint-Saëns Concerto No. 2 was Shakespeare inspired? In any case, this piece that enchanted Liszt is full of charm and formidable velocity that culminates in a frenzied tarantella.

Mendelssohn’s more tranquil Symphonies for Strings are works from his youth, revealing the genius of an adolescent still steeped in the models of Bach and Mozart. From the great ‘Amadeus’ comes Symphony No. 31, also an early work, and brilliant, with its imposing crescendos, contrasting nuances and rousing ritornello forms: an opus clearly meant to draw ‘applause’ from Parisian audiences in 1778, but certainly not lacking in Mozartian depth and mastery.

As a bonus, this concert includes the French premiere of a piece by Czech composer Miroslav Srnka, exploring the transcendence of the individual in the collective—a fascinating notion, whether the ‘superorganism’ is a bee colony or... a symphony orchestra.