CBSO, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony

Beethoven

Overture ‘Leonore’ No. 3

Stravinsky

Violin Concerto in D major

Gerald Barry

Canada (BBC commission: world premiere)

Beethoven

Symphony No. 5 in C minor

Allan Clayton (tenor)
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla (conductor)


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Reviewed: 14 August, 2020
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The CBSO and Mirga Gražinyte-Tyla explore the theme of political and artistic freedom. Beethoven’s Leonore Overture No. 3, written for his rescue opera Fidelio, celebrates the triumph of truth over tyranny in music of radiant beauty, while his Fifth Symphony rewrites the rules for the classical symphony.

In his new work, maverick composer Gerald Barry sets a text from Fidelio’s Prisoners’ Chorus – including the lines ‘Speak softly! We are watched with eyes and ears’, suggesting a resonance with today’s concerns over public surveillance. And Leila Josefowicz amps up the drama in the fierce brilliance of Stravinsky’s neoclassical concerto.Show less Release date:14 August 2020

Read Past Reviews on the Classical Source

(From BBC Proms 2017, 21 August)

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