Looking Forward And Back by Schumann, Brahms, Beethoven, De (2025/2025), Director Chloé van Soeterstède, Lighthouse, Poole, Reino Unido

In this most lyrical, poetic and fantastical of his concertos, Beethoven does not abandon Mozartian concerto form but imbues it with a genuinely romantic voice. In a thrilling dialogue between soloist and orchestra, it is ardent and melancholy, heroic and ethereal, anguished and whimsical. Schumann’s Second Symphony was a personal triumph and marked the start of the final phase of his career. It is a reflection not only of his recent health issues but also the feeling of triumph at overcoming the despair that had gripped him for a year. It transports the listener towards redemption in a way that looks back to Beethoven but also predicts the future greats, like Mahler, who were to come. A magnificent energy pervades Brahms’ overture. Opening with two emphatic chordal exclamations its defiant strength is heightened by the return of a poignant little march idea, defining the ‘Tragic’ even more potently than all the muscular thrust before and after it.