Beethoven the Revolutionary: The Creatures of Prometheus by Various, Ds. 25 Juny 2022, De (2022/2022), Director musical Andrew Davis, Cadogan Hall, London, United Kingdom

Beethoven lived through a time of extraordinary political upheaval – war and revolution had torn up the old aristocratic ruling system of Europe and the new United States of America. Beethoven fervently believed in democracy and the rights of the ordinary man. It is hard not to see those revolutionary ideas in his opera Fidelio, which tells the story of a man who has been imprisoned for his political ideas but is saved by the sheer determination of his wife, Leonore. Tonight Sir Andrew Davis conducts one of the four overtures that Beethoven composed for the opera, a powerful work which easily stands alone on the concert platform. There is also surely no mistake in Beethoven’s choice to compose music for a ballet of the story of Prometheus – the god who defied Apollo to give humans the gift of fire. Sir Andrew Davis conducts the Orchestra in a performance that comprises multi-media and a visual experience created by Gerard McBurney.