Classical Hour Eivind Aadland Paul Lewis Ludwig van Beethoven

Eivind Aadland Paul Lewis Ludwig van Beethoven

Already at 13, Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) was so skilled at the piano that he could earn his own money as a musician in the court orchestra in his hometown of Bonn. And he had enough confidence as a composer to start writing a piano concerto.When Beethoven moved to Vienna in 1792, the first attempt was left in the desk drawer. In the suitcase was Piano Concerto No. 2 in B Major, which he wrote late in the 1780s and revised for years. It was not printed until 1801, after Piano Concerto No. 1.Like Mozart, Beethoven used his concerts to demonstrate that he was the best pianist of his time. His role model also inspired the music, but Beethoven’s distinctive features, such as strong contrasts and dramatic shifts, are clear already in the first concertos.In the beginning, Beethoven always played the soloist part himself, and he played it from memory—the part was not even written down. None of the piano concertos was printed until 1801. He most likely wrote Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor in 1800 and played it for the first time in 1803.

Eivind Aadland Paul Lewis Ludwig van Beethoven

Already at 13, Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) was so skilled at the piano that he could earn his own money as a musician in the court orchestra in his hometown of Bonn. And he had enough confidence as a composer to start writing a piano concerto.Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) was Beethoven’s great role model. In the 1780s, Mozart dazzled Vienna as a soloist in his own piano concertos. In 1795, Beethoven gave his debut concert in the city, probably with the newly written Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major on the program.Like Mozart, Beethoven used his concerts to demonstrate that he was the best pianist of his time. His role model also inspired the music, but Beethoven’s distinctive features, such as strong contrasts and dramatic shifts, are clear already in the first concertos.When he finished his Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major in 1806, Beethoven was a mature and recognized composer. He premiered the work at a major concert in Vienna just before Christmas in 1808, and it was a great success. This is the most poetic of the five, beginning softly with the piano alone.

Manfred Honeck & Paul Lewis

Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor belongs to one of the programmes that have been consistently rescheduled due to the pandemic; fortunately, it can finally take place as it had originally been planned in the spring of 2020 with Paul Lewis as the soloist. The work is an unabashedly Romantic piece in which the young composer portrays the bright, expansive, and playful colors of his homeland in an almost impressionistic way. As one of the most sophisticated pianists of his generation, Britain’s Paul Lewis will render this musical portrait with consummate skill. In conductor Manfred Honeck’s conception, Schulhoff’s Five Pieces for String Quartet will be brought to life with a more expressive, or, to be precise, more Dadaist character: rhythmically concise, ecstatically pulsating – a playful new territory for the BRSO musicians. And, indeed, every concert that includes the Eroica is bound to be one of the highlights of an orchestral season.

Manfred Honeck & Paul Lewis

Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor belongs to one of the programmes that have been consistently rescheduled due to the pandemic; fortunately, it can finally take place as it had originally been planned in the spring of 2020 with Paul Lewis as the soloist. The work is an unabashedly Romantic piece in which the young composer portrays the bright, expansive, and playful colors of his homeland in an almost impressionistic way. As one of the most sophisticated pianists of his generation, Britain’s Paul Lewis will render this musical portrait with consummate skill. In conductor Manfred Honeck’s conception, Schulhoff’s Five Pieces for String Quartet will be brought to life with a more expressive, or, to be precise, more Dadaist character: rhythmically concise, ecstatically pulsating – a playful new territory for the BRSO musicians. And, indeed, every concert that includes the Eroica is bound to be one of the highlights of an orchestral season.

Guest performance Piano Sonatas by Ludwig van Beethoven

Paul Lewis / Schubert’s Sonatas / Piano masterpieces

Franz Schubert held the torch at Ludwig van Beethoven's funeral. It was a symbolic moment – the younger composer was taking over the Promethean flame from a genius. Despite the pathos, it is an accurate association when comparing their symphonies or quartets. However, Schubert did not take over the flame for long – he died less than two years later. In the last months of his life, he created a series of masterpieces, among them three piano sonatas. After their publication, they were heavily criticised for departing from Beethovenian patterns. However, inspiration does not mean imitation after all! Schubert's style is gentle and less definite. Every play is lined with melancholy; contemplation borders on the sublime and ecstasy. Very few people can portray the entire universe of these three sisters' works as aptly as Paul Lewis. It has to be experienced. Adam Suprynowicz Concert duration: approximately 140 minutes

Classical Hour Dalia Stasevska Antonín Dvořák

Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904) moved to New York in 1892 to become the director at The National Conservatory of Music of America. During three years in the United States, he wrote some of his most popular works and one of his most-played symphonies: Symphony No. 9, entitled From the New World.Dvořák quickly absorbed impressions from his new surroundings and started working on a new symphony after four months in the US. One of the students sang spirituals to him, and they became one of his most important sources of inspiration. Symphony No. 9 was premiered in 1893 and became an enormous success.

Classical Hour Klaus Mäkelä Dmitri Shostakovich

In 1955, Dmitri Shostakovich planned to write a symphony for the 50th anniversary of the Russian Revolution of 1905. Symphony No. 11 was not ready until the 40th anniversary of the 1917 Russian Revolution in 1957, but the symphony was still named “The Year 1905”.On the surface, the symphony is in line with the authorities’ view. Still, Shostakovich’s use of freedom songs from the prison gave many associations to current events: the composer is said to have suggested that the music was a response to the Soviet Union’s brutal invasion of Hungary in 1956.The symphony opens with the eerie atmosphere in front of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg on the eve of the revolution. The second movement describes the brutal massacre on “the bloody Sunday”. The third movement is based on a revolutionary mournful march, while the powerful final movement ambiguously celebrates the revolution’s future triumph.

Marta Gardolińska Jeneba Kanneh-Mason Joseph Haydn Florence Price Ludwig van Beethoven

Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) finished the oratory The Creation in 1798, inspired by great experiences with G.F. Handel's oratorios during his stay in London. The lyrics are based on the first chapters of the Bible, and the opening for the orchestra describes the darkness and emptiness before the creation. In 2009, a couple were cleaning out a run-down building in the small American town of St. Anne when they came across a large collection of sheet music. The collection turned out to be many unreleased works by the composer Florence Price (1887-1953), who had used the building as a summer house. One of the works they discovered, which has experienced a renaissance in recent years, is Florence Price's Piano Concerto in One Movement from 1934. In the work, Price combines a romantic tonal language with Afro-American folk tunes. The composer was the soloist during the premiere in Chicago. "How happy I shall be when I can walk for a while between bushes and woods, under trees, through grass and around rocks,” Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) wrote to a friend in 1810. The composer went out to parks or forests and fields as often as he could. Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 in F Major, with the nickname Pastoral Symphony, is the most apparent expression of his love for nature. The first and last movements describe the joy of being out in the open; in the movements in between, he describes, among other things, a scene by the stream, folk dancing, and a heavy thunderstorm.

Roberto Gonzalez-Monjas Hilary Hahn Jean Sibelius Antonín Dvořák Ludwig van Beethoven

“It’s lush, it’s romantic, it has conflict and lightness. There is a physicality to this piece that’s really fun.” This is how tonight’s soloist Hilary Hahn described Antonín Dvořáks Violin Concerto when she recorded the piece in 2022. Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904) played the violin, and worked as an orchestral violist for ten years before his breakthrough as a composer. The Violin Concerto in A minor from 1883 is, like much of Dvořák’s music, strongly influenced by Czech musical heritage, with lively melodies and strong contrasts. The concert opens with the short but eventful orchestral piece Pan and Ekho from 1906 by Jean Sibelius (1865-1957). The piece is based on Greek mythology and the wild god Pan’s romantic advances towards the unhappy nymph Ekho, who can only repeat what others say.Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) started working on his Symphony No. 7 during a refreshing stay in the spa town of Teplitz. He conducted the symphony premiere in 1813 at a charity concert for wounded soldiers who had returned from the Napoleonic Wars. After Napoleon’s failed crusade toward Russia, the tides had turned. Symphony No. 7 was premiered along with a piece celebrating the Battle of Vitoria. The concert hit the zeitgeist perfectly and was a huge success. Beethoven referred to the symphony as one of his best works. The symphony opens with a slow, suggestive introduction. The melancholic second movement Allegretto is the symphony’s most famous – at the first concerts it was cheered as an encore. The last movement is perhaps the most thrilling music Beethoven wrote.