There’s a little extra frisson when the tapes are rolling. Begun Thursday morning and extending through next Sunday (June 7), MacArthur “genius” grant recipient Steven Hough and conductor Osmo Vanska will lead the Minnesota Orchestra through live recordings of two Tchaikovsky piano concertos. Vanska will also get a chance to champion another modern Finnish composer, Kalevi Aho, performing his Tenth Symphony this weekend.

And next weekend the orchestra gets to flash its virtuosity via Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” — plus unveil a world premiere of a work meant to evoke an autumnal walk in the woods of New England.

Begin with Tchaikovsky recordings. Rather than execute yet another rendition of the composer’s overly familiar Piano Concerto No. 1, Hough is tackling the more egalitarian Piano Concerto No. 2 (with more segregated cadenzas and a middle movement also featuring violin and cello) this weekend and the obscure Piano Concerto No. 3 in June.

The pianist, last here playing Brahms’ Second Piano Concerto two years ago, recently had his recording of Saint-Saens’ complete piano-orchestra works named the most popular disc of the last 30 years at the 2008 Classic FM Gramophone Awards. While there is no video of him performing Tchaikovsky, you can watch him doing Rachmaninoff’s Paganini Rhapsody here and catch an excerpt of his take on Brahms’ First Piano Concerto here.

There likewise is no video of Aho’s Symphony No. 10, but if Minnesota Orchestra patrons have learned anything over the years, it’s to trust Vanska’s impeccable taste and stirring execution of Scandinavian music. Vanska conducted the premiere of this 47-minute symphony with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra in Finland a dozen years ago, and he has performed other Aho pieces that have been greeted enthusiastically during his tenure here. Vanska and the Minnesota Orchestra have commissioned a new work from Aho, who is most often compared to Mahler and Shostakovich. The work will be given its world premiere at Orchestra Hall next November. To complete this weekend’s Scandinavian influence, the program will begin with Carl Nielsen’s Pan and Syrinx, Pastorale, Opus 49.

Next weekend’s shows open with the world premiere of Michael Gatonska’s “In autumn woods, a traveler,” followed by Hough’s recording of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 3, Mendelssohn’s Concerto No. 1 in G Minor for Piano and Orchestra, and then Mussorgsky’s raucous “Pictures at an Exhibition.” There are all kinds of attendant options next weekend as well, including a chance to meet Gatonska in the Orchestra Hall Auditorium before each performance, a fashion show before the Thursday morning concert, and a Sunday brunch (for an extra $35) on Sunday.

Pianist Stephen Hough recording Tchaikovsky piano concertos with the Minnesota Orchestra, at Orchestra Hall, Friday and Saturday, May 29 and May 30, at 8 p.m., $25-$83; Thursday morning June 4 at 11 a.m., $21-$55; Friday and Saturday, June 5 and June 6, at 8 p.m., $25-$83; and Sunday, June 7, at 2 p.m., $22-$69.