In 2015, pianist Jonathan Biss initiated the Beethoven/5 commissioning project with The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and more than fifteen other orchestras, resulting in a groundbreaking collaboration over nine years. The project yielded five extraordinary new piano works by some of today's most significant composers, responding to Beethoven's own concerti.

Volume 2 sees "City Stanzas", written by British composer Sally Beamish to pair with Beethoven's First Piano Concerto, marking a thematic departure from Beamish's earlier works often inspired by nature. The concerto shifts focus to urban landscapes, and while initially envisioned as a celebration of human creativity the tone of the piece altered due to the political unrest in the UK and USA in 2015, with Beamish's work responding to the greed and disparity prevalent in centres of power, and issues such as profit-driven technology, efficient armaments, and social inequality.

While all the material in "City Stanzas" derives in some way from Beethoven's concerto, with Beamish inspired by Jonathan Biss's individual, expressive and virtuosic playing, the work is also deeply affected by both the composer and artist's shared anxiety for the future.