Kit Armstrong & Le Concert Olympique IV

The series continues: the nine-part Beethoven27 cycle, featuring all his symphonies and concertos, focuses in its fourth instalment on the resurgence Beethoven experienced between 1804 and 1806. He overcame his despair at his loss of hearing, found a »new path« in composition and enjoyed an unexpected level of acclaim from audiences and publishers alike. On top of that, he was also in love – with Josephine Brunsvik, who may well have been the recipient of his letters to the »immortal beloved«. It was amidst his relationship with his piano pupil that the cheerful Fourth Symphony was composed. According to conductor Jan Caeyers, this work reveals how Beethoven had overcome the compositional difficulties that had still plagued him in the Third Symphony: »Beethoven comes across here as relaxed, even effortless.« With Kit Armstrong at the piano, the Third Piano Concerto – composed shortly before – traces the progression from tragedy to optimism that Beethoven takes in the three movements, from the sombre C minor to the brilliant conclusion in C major. In between lies what is arguably the composer’s most delicate solo piano work: a single Andante, which he presented to Josephine Brunsvik with the stammered words »here is your – your Andante«.