Event is Live
CARNEGIE HALL PRESENTS

Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique

Friday, February 21, 2020 8 PM Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
The opening motif of the Symphony No. 5 is certainly one of the most famous in all of music. It is a dramatic curtain-raiser for an intense symphony that storms with unbridled power, ultimately lifting the listener to one of the most triumphant finales ever composed. While Symphony No. 4 sits in the chronology between two titanic symphonies, the lighter orchestration and gentler tone put it closer to works by Haydn and Mozart. Its propulsive third movement, however, puts it firmly in the Beethoven canon.

Part of: Sir John Eliot Gardiner Perspectives and Beethoven Celebration

There is a limit of 8 tickets per household. Additional orders exceeding the ticket limit may be cancelled without notice. This includes orders associated with the same name, email address, billing address, credit card number and/or other information.

Pick four concerts and save now.

Partner events on February 7 and February 27 explore the instruments featured in this concert.

Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique is also performing February 19, February 20, February 23, and February 24.

Sir John Eliot Gardiner is also performing February 18, February 19, February 20, February 23, and February 24.

Performers

Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique
Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Artistic Director and Conductor

Program

ALL-BEETHOVEN PROGRAM

Symphony No. 4

Symphony No. 5

Event Duration

The printed program will last approximately 90 minutes, including one 20-minute intermission.
Sir John Eliot Gardiner: 2019–2020 Perspectives Artist
Lead support for the Beethoven Celebration is provided by The Morris and Alma Schapiro Fund.
National Endowment for the Arts: arts.gov
Public support is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.
In honor of the centenary of his birth, Carnegie Hall’s 2019–2020 season is dedicated to the memory of Isaac Stern in recognition of his extraordinary contributions to Carnegie Hall, arts advocacy, and the field of music.

At a Glance

This concert is a study in contrast. Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony is one of his most refined and symmetrical, free from the angst and turmoil in his next symphony. Especially notable are the exquisite musical joke at the beginning, the elegant slow movement, and the buzzing finale. The Fifth, on the other hand, is a fiercely revolutionary work that, like the “Eroica,” has changed the way we think about music. Thousands of people have been moved by the representation of “Fate knocking at the door” and by the “program” of Beethoven’s defiant struggle against deafness, despair, and fantasies of suicide. It is remarkable how much excitement and sense of occasion the Fifth still evokes in a go-for-broke performance. Like a Bach fugue or a Schubert song, it communicates something basic and fundamental, a sense that Western music would not have been the same without it. Paradoxically, it is most famous for its economy achieved by Beethoven’s technique of having the opening four notes generate both the first movement and significant chunks of the succeeding ones. Equally stark and unadorned is the work’s single-minded emphasis on rhythm. Indeed, the relentless pulse on the Fifth launched a revolution in rhythm, one carried forward in the Seventh, presented in the next concert in this series.

Bios

Sir John Eliot Gardiner

Sir John Eliot Gardiner is revered as one of the world’s most innovative and dynamic musicians, and as a leader in the contemporary musical world. His work—as founder and ...

Read More

Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique

Founded in 1989 by Sir John Eliot Gardiner, the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique (ORR) strives to provide bold new perspectives on the music of the 19th and early 20th ...
Read More

Stay Up to Date