Fabio Luisi conducts Beethoven with the Concertgebouw Orchestra

Fabio Luisi conducts Beethoven

With Fabio Luisi, the Concertgebouw Orchestra performs Beethoven's most cheerful symphony, the Eighth, preceded by two works full of melancholy, consolation and contemplation by American composers. Beethoven's Eighth Symphony has always stood in the shadow of its brash big sister, the Seventh. Unjustly so, thinks conductor Fabio Luisi. Of all of Beethoven’s symphonies, the Eighth is in any case the wittiest with amusing and novel ideas in each movement. For example, an absurdly humorous effect is created by Beethoven placing an elegant and graceful melody that could easily come straight from a Rossini opera over woodwinds imitating a metronome.

James Ehnes plays Barber

We know Vivaldi for his sparkling, energetic violin concertos, but also for his operas and church music. The Sinfonia ‘Al Santo Sepolcro’ reveals an unexpected side to the composer: it is solemn, melancholic, even desolate. Samuel Barber's melodious Violin Concerto puts Canadian violinist James Ehnes centre stage. After the wistful and deeply felt first two movements, the music eventually erupts in a devilish finale.