John Adams is one of the reigning American composers today. His Absolute Jest, scored for string quartet and orchestra, pays tribute to Beethoven’s final chamber works, at once deconstructing and reimagining the classical master’s musical fragments while injecting them with characteristic postmodern rhythmic drive. By far one of the most recognized “opening measures” of any piano concerto, Tchaikovsky’s No.1 did not win the approval of his mentor Nikolai Rubinstein. Now beloved all around the world, the solo part—rapid octave passages, abrupt mood changes, delicate arpeggiated filigree, expansive percussive chords—symbolizes Romanticism at its pinnacle.