Ludwig van Beethoven’s Fifth Piano Concerto, the ‘Emperor’, is his final word on the genre. As revolutionary as it is grand, he pits orchestra against soloist in a way that would influence concerto writing for the rest of the 19th century. It is played by Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 3 New Generation Artist Tom Borrow, who joins forces with Chief Conductor Sakari Oramo for this live broadcast from Maida Vale Studios.
While Beethoven anticipates a later era of sumptuous Romanticism, Jean Sibelius described his Sixth Symphony as ‘cold spring water’. Premiered in 1923, it shuns the modernist gestural style that many of Sibelius’s contemporaries embraced in the post-war period. Its unassuming purity and subtle lyricism reminded the composer of the scent of fresh snow – perfect for a December afternoon.
