IDAGIO | Beethoven: Symphonies 4, 5 & 6 - Barry: The Conquest of Ireland & Viola Concerto 635212063910

Featuring

Thomas Adès
Lawrence Power
Joshua Bloom
Britten Sinfonia
Ludwig van Beethoven
Gerald Barry

Did you know?

1/7

Compositional Technique

Gerald Barry's Viola Concerto was partly inspired by musical exercises, which he found liberating and unburdened by meaning.

Performer Biography

Laurence Power, the violist on this recording, founded the Viola Commissioning Circle to help commission new works for the viola from leading contemporary composers.

Recording & Production

This recording of Beethoven's Symphonies Nos. 4, 5, and 6, and Barry's 'The Conquest of Ireland' and Viola Concerto, was made in Barbican Hall, London, across three days in 2018 and 2019.

Critical Reception

Beethoven's Fifth Symphony was initially poorly received at its 1808 premiere due to under-rehearsed music and an uncomfortable hall, but was met with "rapturous praise" a year later.

Compositional Technique

Gerald Barry's 'The Conquest of Ireland' features an absurdly fast tempo marking of quaver = 192, with the explicit instruction "NOT SLOWER" to challenge performers and listeners.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Beethoven's Sixth Symphony, the 'Pastoral', is described as "more an expression of feeling than painting" by the composer himself, focusing on narrative art rather than meticulous thematicism.

Composition History

Beethoven interrupted work on his Fifth Symphony to compose the Fourth Symphony for Count Franz von Oppersdorff, a relative of Prince Karl von Lichnowsky.