Beethoven Piano Concerti III

Piano virtuoso Paul Lewis, one of the leading present-day interpreters of Beethoven, now makes his third visit to Iceland in a short period of time. The programme features works by Mozart and Beethoven, including the former's last symphony and the latter's last piano concerto. Beethoven's majestic “Emperor” concerto was so named (purportedly by its English publisher, Johann Baptist Cramer) because it was considered the “emperor of concerti”. Although the music is powerful, Beethoven wrote it in the shadow of the Napoleonic Wars, and he described the situation in Vienna as follows: "drums, cannons, men, misery of all sorts."

The Jupiter Symphony, the last that Mozart wrote, reflects his abundant and refined compositional skills. Yet in spite of his undoubted talent, he was in such financial difficulties that he was forced to borrow from friends to make ends meet while he was writing it. British conductor Matthew Halls is well known to Icelandic concert-goers and achieves splendid results in his work with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra.