It is known as the Fate Symphony: Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony is a monument of the Western collective imagination. It represents an individual consciousness determined to face the greatest adversities in order to defend ideals. It invites us to reflect on paths that are entangled in subjectivity, yet are powerfully alluring. It is a personal experience with universal aspirations, projected simultaneously onto the individual and upon humanity as a whole. In this programme, it is combined with the expressive paradoxes of Pinho Vargas and with two other works which, by master and pupil, converge in the intimate and eloquent register of the cello. Saint-Saëns’s Concerto No. 2 and Fauré’s Élégie are entrusted to the charisma of Steven Isserlis, an eclectic and acclaimed musician – with a capital ‘A’.
Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony
Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa
António Pinho Vargas Nocturno / Diurno
G. Fauré Elegy, for cello and orchestra
C. Saint-Saëns Cello Concerto No. 2
L. Beethoven Symphony No. 5
Steven Isserlis cello
Pedro Neves conductor
Pre-concert talk at 4.30 pm with musicologist Rui Campos Leitão.
Exclusive event for concert ticket holders.
