Uploaded June 2022 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
In 1970, conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim and his close friend, filmmaker Christopher Nupen, collaborated on a thirteen-part series about Ludwig van Beethoven's music - marking the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the composer's birth. Lost to the British public for half a century, this series of films has never been shown together on national television in the UK. Now, as we celebrate the 250th anniversary in 2020, the episodes have been resurrected in their original form.
In Episode 7, the remarkable Fourth Piano Concerto concludes with Daniel Barenboim alongside Sir Adrian Boult and the New Philharmonia Orchestra. The 2nd movement evokes a stirring dialogue between “the opposite extremes of Beethoven”: what Barenboim calls “a dramatic, energetic, almost bestial orchestra” and the “angelic, naïve statements of the piano.” Barenboim praises the architecture of the concerto and shows us how the “relation of the detail to the whole… contains the greatest possible beauty.” A transition of “perfect symmetry” leads into the final movement, lyrical and witty, with trumpets and drums subtly entering the fray.
Music piece excerpts performed:
0: 49 Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58 (2nd Movement)
2: 19 Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58 (2nd Movement and transition to 3rd Movement)
Subscribe to the channel for more content: goo.gl/GLSuto
© 2020, Licensed by Allegro Films
In 1970, conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim and his close friend, filmmaker Christopher Nupen, collaborated on a thirteen-part series about Ludwig van Beethoven's music - marking the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the composer's birth. Lost to the British public for half a century, this series of films has never been shown together on national television in the UK. Now, as we celebrate the 250th anniversary in 2020, the episodes have been resurrected in their original form.
In Episode 7, the remarkable Fourth Piano Concerto concludes with Daniel Barenboim alongside Sir Adrian Boult and the New Philharmonia Orchestra. The 2nd movement evokes a stirring dialogue between “the opposite extremes of Beethoven”: what Barenboim calls “a dramatic, energetic, almost bestial orchestra” and the “angelic, naïve statements of the piano.” Barenboim praises the architecture of the concerto and shows us how the “relation of the detail to the whole… contains the greatest possible beauty.” A transition of “perfect symmetry” leads into the final movement, lyrical and witty, with trumpets and drums subtly entering the fray.
Music piece excerpts performed:
0: 49 Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58 (2nd Movement)
2: 19 Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58 (2nd Movement and transition to 3rd Movement)
Subscribe to the channel for more content: goo.gl/GLSuto
© 2020, Licensed by Allegro Films
