James Gibb (piano)
BBC Symphony Orchestra
(Leader, Paul Beard )
Conductor, Sir Malcolm Sargent
Beethoven
Overture: Egmont
7.42 app. Piano Concerto No. 1, in C
8.19 app. Symphony No 7, in A
From the Royal Albert Hall, London
Goethe's drama Egmont deals with an early ' resistance ' movement in the Netherlands. Count Egmont was a Netherlands patriot who led a rebellion against the Spanish occupation forces in the sixteenth century. When the Spanish Duke of Alva condemned him to death, trumpeters were ordered to sound a fanfare during the execution, lest Egmont's dying words might inflame his countrymen to further resistance. Beethoven has seized on this incident to provide a musical peroration to his overture, which portrays Egmont's struggle against tyranny and oppression, and the hero's final martyrdom in the cause of freedom.
Beethoven's later symphonies all have one point in common-they aU exploit to the full the rhythmic potentialities of each fragment of their principal themes. From the initial ‛ motto ’ theme of the Fifth Symphony (used as the ' resistance ' signal during the last war) to the cosmic opening of the ' Choral ' we observe this typically Beethovenian form of development, but never was it carried to a greater pitch of intensity than in the Seventh Symphony. It was probably this factor of rhythmic intensity that caused Wagner to describe the work as ' the apotheosis of the dance,' particularly since Beethoven does not here concern himself with a battle against fate or with pastoral scenes, but revels exultantly in a physically exuberant joy of life. The grim atmosphere of the second movement provides a contrast to the rest of the symphony. Beethoven originally marked it Allegretto, considered changing this direction to Andante, and finally decided on a speed between the two.
Julian Herbage