He performed in the circus, was celebrated as a pianist, was made to do forced labour under Stalin – György Cziffra’s life was full of successes and tragedies. These are portrayed in a radical and touching way in Cziffra Psodia, a piano concerto composed by fellow Hungarian Peter Eötvös. The soloist for this performance is Pierre-Laurent Aimard; Jonathan Nott conducts. In the same programme, Charles Ives’ Fourth Symphony takes us into early American modernism: a visionary collage of hymns, marches and fugues that explores fundamental questions of existence, performed by a powerful orchestra with piano and choir.