Beethoven / Brahms

The Egmont Overture, one of Ludwig van Beethoven's most famous works, is the opening movement of the composer's incidental music for Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's tragedy of the same name. The drama depicts the heroic struggle of a Dutch nobleman against Spanish oppression, and although it ends with the hero's death, the conclusion celebrates the triumph of freedom over tyranny. Beethoven wrote his final Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73 in 1809 during the siege of Vienna by Napoleon's armies. He dedicated the work to Archduke Rudolf of Austria, his friend, student, and above all patron. The solo part of the concerto will be performed by the young but already internationally acclaimed Ukrainian-German pianist Alexei Gorlatch, who will be performing this work with our orchestra on a concert tour to Japan in the coming weeks. Johannes Brahms worked on his First Symphony for 14 years. He was bound by a sense of responsibility toward Beethoven, who represented an unattainable model for the composer. At the end of the work, the composer quotes a theme from the finale of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9.