Perrine Madoeuf – soprano
Laura Grecka – mezzo-soprano
Mihails Čuļpajevs – tenor
Edgars Ošleja – bass
State Choir LATVIJA
Conductor Jean-Claude CASADESUS
Programme:
The beginning and end of a genius – two symphonies, two different Beethovens. In the First, a young, well-educated, aspiring revolutionary making his entrance and simultaneously abandoning the conservative canons. In the Ninth, he reaches an apex, an explosive climax of all-consuming sparks – he dreams of connecting millions and creates a hymn to unity and freedom. Beethoven’s devotion to music is rivalled by the conductor of tonight’s concert, the refined French maestro Casadesus, who rejoins the LNSO to fulfill his motto – “to serve, to venture, to give and to get”. In his view, music is the purest path towards absolute spirituality, and Beethoven would have certainly agreed.