Beethoven and Unsuk Chin

Prepare for the unexpected in Beethoven’s most surprising symphony, and Unsuk Chin’s brilliantly disorientating Piano Concerto.

The Programme

Beethoven wrote two light-hearted symphonies in especially difficult times. He composed his Second Symphony while struggling with his increasing deafness, and the Eighth coincides with a despairing letter to his ‘immortal beloved’, a mystery woman with whom he had a tragic affair. Yet Symphony No 2 contains an offbeat ‘scherzo’ or ‘joke’ movement, and the surprises come thick and fast in the Eighth. Listen out for the laughter and footsteps in the second movement, and the double-take in the finale when the symphony discovers it’s in the wrong key.

For François-Xavier Roth, Beethoven’s symphonies ‘work very well with modern music, maybe because his symphonies are an amazing example of radical, modern music, that changed the basis of composing and of the role of music in our life. We can hear Beethoven’s music with different ears, in dialogue with contemporary music from our time.’

Roth and the LSO bring a fresh perspective to Beethoven’s enduring works, and precision to the charming paradoxes of Unsuk Chin’s Concerto. Bertrand Chamayou dives deep into Chin’s oeuvre as part of an Artist Portrait series, which includes chamber music at LSO St Luke’s.

‘I wanted to be a pianist, but I couldn’t, so I became a composer … The piano is, for me, the king of instruments.’ – Unsuk Chin

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Recorded for broadcast on BBC Radio 3

Recorded for future broadcast on Marquee TV

Header Image © Marco Borggreve