György Kurtág: ...quasi una fantasia... Op.27 No.1
Ludwig Van Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.1
Interval
Ludwig Van Beethoven: Symphony No.9 (Choral)

Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts Beethoven's Choral Symphony with an all-star cast, alongside Beethoven's First Piano Concerto played by Leif Ove Andsnes and Kurtág's Beethoven-inspired Quasi una Fantasia.

Beethoven's influence on future generations was incalculable. At first, György Kurtág's Quasi una Fantasia, with its strategically placed mouth organs throughout the hall, may appear anything but Beethovenian, but even here Beethoven acts as a spiritual mentor. The clue is in the title Quasi una Fantasia and opus number 27, which is taken from a pair of Beethoven's piano sonatas that includes the Moonlight.
The remainder of the new season's opening concert shows how far Beethoven travelled musically in just 30 years, from the sheer exuberance of the First Piano Concerto, performed here by Leif Ove Andsnes, to the epoch-making Ninth Symphony, with its epic 'Ode to Joy' choral finale.

Royal Festival Hall at 6pm - Pre-concert talk. An introduction to the evening's concert. Free.

Performers

Philharmonia Orchestra
Esa-Pekka Salonen conductor
Leif Ove Andsnes piano
Giselle Allen soprano
Anne-Marie Owens mezzo-soprano
Andrew Kennedy tenor
James Rutherford bass
Philharmonia Chorus

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