Organization

Conductor

Richard Egarr

Stephen Fry

Narrator

Singer

Chen Reiss

Soprano

Stefanie True

Helen Charlston

Mezzo-soprano

Gwilym Bowen

Tenor

Morgan Pearse

Bass

Orchestra

Academy of Ancient Music

Others

Choir of Academy of Ancient Music

Beethoven and Dussek

London

United Kingdom

Barbican Centre

Barbican Concert Hall

Beethoven and Dussek: Egmont, op. 84 Beethoven (+1 More)

Public

Private

Egmont, op. 84

Solemn Mass in G Major, C. 256

Approved

Stephen Fry joins AAM as it begins our Beethoven 250 anniversary celebrations with the complete incidental music for Goethe’s play Egmont.

Alongside Egmont, AAM perform the modern premiere of the Mass by his scandalous Czech contemporary Dussek. Recently rediscovered by the Academy of Ancient Music’s own music director Richard Egarr, and heard here for the first time since the 19th century, Dussek’s Mass throws fascinating new light on a musical pioneer whose expressive works anticipate the Romantic style of Chopin and Schumann.

While the Overture to Egmont has become a concert hall staple, it is relatively rare to have the chance to hear a performance of the complete incidental music. Beethoven lover Stephen Fry narrates this music into which the composer channelled his fury at Napolean’s tyrannical progress through Europe. It is an impassioned, heroically defiant musical expression of the triumph of freedom over oppression.

English

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Ensemble