LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN

Ludwig van Beethoven was one of the greatest destructive forces in the history of music. The composer relied on the musical guidelines, genres and styles of classicism, but transformed this legacy in such a way that his music became an example for Romantic composers. He was the first to elevate the symphony to a philosophical level. He formed the genre of symphony – an instrumental drama, which incorporates the concept of “hero”, a generalized symbol of goodness and remarkable will power. “How happy I am to walk among the bushes and trees, to break through the density of the forest, to wander through the meadows, and to climb hills! Forests, trees, rocks sound like an echo inside a person”, Beethoven described his walks around Heiligenstadt in a letter to Therese Malfatti in the summer of 1808. In the Sixth Symphony (also known as Pastoral) the composer’s inner hero seeks peace in nature, where he is not afflicted by conflicts and losses. All five movements of the symphony are united by the idea of man and nature. The movements are not contrasting, but rather complement one another. The fourth movement The Storm, a characteristic example of Beethoven’s dramatic symphonism, comes as a contrast.

Conducted by Maestro Modestas Pitrėnas the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra performs the Pastoral Symphony as a tribute to the composer on his 250th birth-anniversary.