The Boston Symphony Orchestra, one of the most renowned and longest-established on the American continent, brings together Russian and American music. On one side, Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony, written during the Second World War, in which the composer confessed that he “wanted to sing of the free and happy man, his strength, his generosity and the purity of his soul”. On the other, the dazzling Gershwin Concerto in F (in which Andris Nelsons is joined by Jean-Yves Thibaudet, who is familiar with the score), and a new work by Carlos Simon, whose music also incorporates jazz and gospel influences.