Dohnányi conducts Brahms and Beethoven

Christoph von Dohnányi (conductor)
Pierre-Laurent Aimard (piano)

BRAHMS Piano Concerto No. 1
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 3, Eroica

At no time in musical history has a composer travelled so far as quickly as Beethoven in the Eroica Symphony. This is music that appears to breathe the air of a different planet, lacerating 18th-century sensibilities along the way. Not only is it longer than any symphony previously written, but the emotional content is startlingly raw, with brutal sforzandos rammed home, harmonic dissonances revelled in as never before, and fizzing virtuosity demanded of the players at every turn. Beethoven’s hearing was fast fading and by declaring himself ‘emperor’ his hero Napoleon had become ‘just another tyrant’. Music would never be the same again.