It had to happen … 16 years after the foundation of the orchestra, the time has finally come: B’Rock plays Beethoven. And two of his symphonies at that: the second and the fifth. With its grand, slow introduction, unprecedented dynamic contrasts, and innovative, more active use of the wind section, Beethoven’s Second Symphony ensured his place in the history books.
But it is especially about the Fifth that an untold amount of ink has already flowed. Nevertheless, the symphony continues to be overwhelming. Its power? The unpredictability and drama contained in each note, but above all: the optimism emanating from the symphony, which has made it a symbol of humanity refusing to bow to fate. Beethoven made his deep-seated humanist views audible in his Fifth. He wrote the work in the dramatic key of C minor. But at the end of the third movement he makes the transition – in what must be the most famous key change ever – to C major. In dozens of long, stretched out measures full of tension and anticipation, Beethoven goes from desolation to triumph, from darkness to light.
Alessandro De Marchi leads the way on this wonderful journey. The Italian conductor – who, following in the footsteps of René Jacobs, has been the director of the Festwochen der Alten Musik in Innsbruck for more than 10 years – leaves the world of early music for what it is and explores the universe of Beethoven’s early romanticism together with B’Rock.
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This production was realized with the support of the Tax Shelter measure of the Belgian Federal Government through Flanders Tax Shelter
