About
"It cannot be denied that Herr van Beethoven is a man of genius, with originality and a clear path of his own." This appeared in the "Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung" in 1799. Every beginning is difficult, but nonetheless, Beethoven knew exactly what he was doing when he began composing his symphonic masterpieces as a response to the works of Haydn and Mozart: His bold Opus 21 is already a confident statement of his creative power. It was premiered in his first independent "Musical Academy" in Vienna – which a reviewer described as "the most interesting in a long time." This was in 1800, and it marked the beginning of what he intended to achieve with his symphonies. Bohuslav Martinů commented on the dilemma faced by many composers after Beethoven, that "the size of the orchestra alone does not yet indicate greatness or grandeur." His fourth symphony was composed in 1945 in exile and reflects his joy at the end of the war, as well as his longing for Bohemia, through its optimistic tones and folk-inspired episodes. The two symphonies frame a work by the native Swiss composer Ernest Bloch, who was seen by his followers as the fourth "B" – after Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms. His late-Romantic rhapsody of 1916 is based on the sermons of Solomon to the people, as recorded in the Old Testament – and it features a moving dialogue between the orchestra and a solo instrument.
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