《don Juan》 by George

Much like Richard Wagner, Arnold Schoenberg, and Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss truly stretched the abilities and the dimensions of the orchestra in his works, especially the symphonic tone poems by which most of the general music public know him by. Apart from creating works that require very large orchestral forces, Strauss also took chances in the musical keys that he utilized throughout his works, never actually settling on just one for his pieces, but often many. And to make thing seven more interesting, he often made very difficult subject matters, including literary works, the basis for his tone poems. Such is the case with this 1980 London/Decca recording by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Antal Dorati that highlights three of the composer's works in that arena.

George Li gained international attention in 2015 when he won the silver medal in the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. Now he has recorded one of Tchaikovsky’s greatest and best-loved works, the Piano Concerto No 1 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Vasily Petrenko. The New York Times has called him a “real revelation” in the work. It is complemented by three solo pieces by Liszt, a composer who featured on his debut Warner Classics recital, judged “a winner” by International Piano magazine.