Beethoven 7 en Griegs Pianoconcert door Orkest Phion en Denis Kozhukhin

Beethoven's Symphony No. 7

Beethoven, a chaotic figure in social and domestic matters, could work like a man possessed. He rose at six o'clock and composed until about three. In the afternoon, he took a long walk. In nature, he developed his musical ideas. A jumble of themes and motifs tumbled through his mind, which he noted down in an illegible, scribbled notebook. In the evening, he could be found in the coffee house, and at ten o'clock, he crawled into bed. His Seventh Symphony , a work that explores the boundaries of the classical symphony, also came into being according to this schedule. The premiere, conducted by a deaf Beethoven in 1813, was a tremendous success.

Grieg's Piano Concerto

The 24-year-old Grieg was a happy man in 1868: as a pianist he was called the Norwegian Chopin, and he and his wife Nina had just had a baby daughter. In a short time, Grieg composed his early masterpiece, the Piano Concerto . He borrowed the form and key from Schumann, while the piano technique was based on Liszt's playing. In Weimar, Grieg showed his concerto to Liszt, who played the piece from sheet music and was wildly enthusiastic. The concerto was an immediate success and has always remained a crowd favorite.