Beethoven Deep Dive: Symphony No. 1

»Beethoven composed his works in such a way that they can be understood. Reason or understanding and emotion are often regarded as opposites. We both have a scientific background, which is why people often ask us: where does the boundary lie between emotion and reason? Music is often assigned to the so-called emotional side. Firstly, this is a fallacy, and secondly, it does not reflect our experience of music. Without understanding, there is no emotion.« – Kit Armstrong

Delving deep beneath the surface of the beautiful sounds, the famous name, and the much-vaunted ›Beethoven myth‹: this is the lifelong theme of Kit Armstrong and Jan Caeyers, who are jointly devoting themselves to the work of Ludwig van Beethoven. Their concert series »Beethoven27« begins as a cycle of all the symphonies and piano concertos at the 2026 festival and continues into the anniversary year of 2027. To accompany the nine concerts, they have taken to the podcast studio. The result: the new series »Beethoven Deep Dive« as part of our bee.podcast – nine episodes, one for each concert.

For each concert, a key work from the programme takes centre stage in their conversation as they sit together at the piano. In episode one: the First Symphony, premiered in 1800, which marks »a new era« for the artists.

They delve into the story of its creation, dispel clichés and open our ears to the inner connections within these fascinating works. They also reveal details and the reasoning behind their own approach as performers in this joint cycle project. This fosters a new understanding of Beethoven’s thinking – and provides food for thought to reflect on, to listen for in concert, and to follow along with.

bee.podcast is the Beethovenfest Bonn’s talk podcast. Here, we invite guests from the worlds of music, culture and society to discuss current artistic projects and contemporary issues with us.