What an amazing pairing: pianist extraordinaire Fazil Say’s Mother Earth receiving its China premiere and the rarely performed Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.3. Say’s seven-movement work from 2025—with such descriptive titles as Earth, Forest, Sea and River—concerns our planet’s ecology and environmental challenges today, particularly climate change. Tchaikovsky’s “Polish” gains its name because of the final movement’s “Tempo di polacca.” Other departures are its being cast in major key and five-movement structure, having scherzos on either side of the middle slow movement. The second scherzo is a test of virtuosity, especially for the woodwinds.