In a pretty meaty concert, RPOand Vasily Petremko offered up a blockbuster. A rarity from Galina Ustovlskaya, pupil of Shostakovich who had a fraught relationship with him. After the Soviets tightened up on expression in the arts, Ustovlskaya would be one of innumerable creatives told to change their radical ways. In The Dream of Stepan Razin, convention is frontal by literal gun point, in a folk fantasy with the serious Yuriy Yurchuk as baritone solo. This would prove how versatile a composer can be, even after previous experiments.

Benjamin Grosvenor joined for Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1, I assume most of the audience were here for him. In this telling first offering Beethoven proves the piano’s early promise of a variable instrument, harsh and tender, lush and soaring. Grosvenor plays with grace, a resounding ease on the piano. Joyous movements meld with deeper, softer thoughts, as the piano often mirrors the orchestra. Petrenko, who always leads, is the most focused and sharing conductor you can watch today.

Shostakovich’s 10th Symphony came after Stalin’s death. Balancing the fine line between evoking his tyranny and celebrating his demise, Shostakovich had to be incredibly careful. It’s structure is bizarre, an movement order of slow-fast-slow-fast can feel uneven. The woodwind often shine with gurgling depictions, the composer’s own initials are baked into the score. Terror and mania also are an affront, the second movement a warped highlight. Always within its Russian sound world, this is one of Shostakovich’s best. It is Petrenko who makes it special.