Beethoven was a city dweller, a superstar in Vienna — where he was often acknowledged as the greatest composer in the world. However, it was the countryside that really set his troubled soul on fire, and his Sixth Symphony – originally titled ‘Recollections of Country Life’ – is an emphatic homage to the wonder and beauty of nature.
Principal Conductor Maxim Emelyanychev takes us on this elemental walk through the countryside, before turning to the bacchanal of the Seventh Symphony. The stirring melody and pulsating rhythm of its Allegretto movement – made famous in Colin Firth’s dramatic address in The King’s Speech – is closely followed by an alarmingly exuberant finale!
Beethoven: Symphony No 6 ‘Pastoral’
Beethoven: Symphony No 7
Maxim Emelyanychev: Conductor
SCO PLATFORM: 6.45pm Performance by pupils from St Mary’s Music School (Edinburgh)
(Ludwig van Beethoven)“How glad I am to be able to roam in the wood and thicket, among trees and flowers and rocks...in the country, every tree seems to speak to me, saying, "Holy! Holy!", in the woods, there is enchantment which expresses all things.”
SCO 2019/20: Beethoven Symphonies Nos 6 'Pastoral' and 7