Beethoven Festival IV – Beethoven and Beach

That Beethoven is paired with Amy Beach in this concert is no coincidence. Both shared an interest in English, Irish and Scottish melodies. The second movement of Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony, for instance, features a distinctly Gaelic theme followed by a set of variations. Beach’s symphony, too, is known as the Gaelic.

“A pure and beautiful flower, preserving the fragrance of the brightest days,” wrote the Nobel laureate Romain Rolland of Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony. Robert Schumann described it as a slender Greek maiden between two Nordic giants. It is a symphony in which Beethoven reveals his lighter, more life-affirming side.

Amy Beach (1867–1944) was widely recognised in her lifetime and became the first American woman composer to write large-scale works. One of her great sources of inspiration was Antonín Dvořák, yet, as we hear in her Gaelic Symphony, the symphonic tradition of Beethoven is strongly present in her music.

In this concert, part of the Beethoven Festival, the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra appears under the direction of Chief Conductor Karl-Heinz Steffens.