BEETHOVEN'S FOURTH AND FIFTH SYMPHONIES

KRZYSZTOF URBAŃSKI – CONDUCTOR

HUW WATKINS Commission
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 4 in B-flat Major
KATHERINE BALCH Commission
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 5 in C Minor

The ISO honors the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth by holding a celebration that will span a whole year, conducted only by Music Director Krzysztof Urbański. Beethoven forever changed the landscape of classical music, and to recognize that legacy, the ISO commissioned nine composers to write new pieces to be paired with each of the nine Beethoven symphonies. The celebration begins in January with three weekends dedicated to the first give Beethoven symphonies and other well-known works. The 2019–20 season comes to a close with all five Piano Concertos and Missa Solemnis, before the remaining four symphonies are performed in the fall of 2020

The January Beethoven 2020 celebration comes to a dramatic pause until May with two new commissions and Beethoven’s Fourth and Fifth Symphonies. The ominous first four notes of the Fifth Symphony make this one of Beethoven’s best-known and most frequently played works. Robert Schumann described Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony as “placid and serene—the most perfect in form of all the symphonies.”