Beethoven enthusiastically wrote his music for Goethe’s play “Egmont” as a commission. The image of Egmont, Count Lamoral perfectly embodies the ideal image of the hero so sought by the composer. Historical circumstances favored Beethoven’s inspiration, the troops of Beethoven’s former idol, the first consul Bonaparte who besieged and occupied Vienna. The music for “Egmont” consists of nine numbers and an overture preceding the performance. This overture is in perfect form, and in a limited amount of time musically “plays out” the events of the play and gives a dramatic quintessence to what is happening on stage. Constructed as a sonata Allegro with a slow, funereal saraband-like introduction and a rapidly sweeping coda, the overture, with its musical perfection and dramatic vividness, remains the epitome of Beethoven’s dramatic style.

Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto is undeniably difficult. But this certainty gives way to the brilliance of the poetic scenes, which alternate with theatrical – or almost literary – visibility in the music. It is as if with interest, melancholy or surprise we unfold the pages of one of the great Russian novels of the era. Or do soloist and orchestra unfold them for us?

A dazzling and captivating finale of the program will be Beethoven’s Second Symphony. Composed in a time of hardship and bitterness, it bears the light of hope and the boldness of the innovator; angular, suddenly gallant, sometimes surprisingly, “Haydn” irreverent, this symphony invariably delights listeners.