Berlioz + Beethoven

In the shadow of the popular Seventh and the revolutionary Ninth, Beethoven’s Symphony No.8 represents his most canonical and well-humoured facets. This seems paradoxical, as Beethoven had his heart broken and was suffering from poor mental health in 1812 -which is when he wrote the famous letter to his “immortal beloved”-. As such, Symphony No.8 contains music that is optimistic, light, and classic in the way it turns its gaze to his maestro Haydn. Fantastical Symphony by Berlioz, who also drew from heartbreak, did so nevertheless to break from the conventions of symphonic art. The French composer poured out his obsession for actress Henrietta Smithson and the rejection that was the subject at the heart of this score that is, in a certain sense, a novel transformed into music. Pinchas Steinberg, an outstanding conductor on the operatic circuit and grandmaster of the repertoire of Romanticism, will tackle this fabulous double symphonic challenge.