This concert to be conducted by András Keller spans more than a decade of Beethoven’s life and work with the first number owing its genesis to an 1801 Viennese ballet. Following the overture, which evokes the heroic character of the Titan who gave humanity fire, and along with it the possibility of civilisation, only to be punished for his bold good deed with cruel and prolonged torture, comes the 1806 Violin Concerto in D major, whose solo part, magnificent even in its difficulty, can be deemed an equally heroic challenge for anyone taking it on.

Guaranteeing the success of this particular artistic undertaking is the overwhelming virtuosity of Barnabás Kelemen. Also on the programme is the Seventh Symphony, composed in 1812. This dance-like masterpiece unleashes so much energy and – almost primal – force, and is so rich in ecstatic climaxes that it is perhaps not surprising that, upon first hearing it, Clara Schumann’s musically knowledgeable but conservative father believed that Beethoven must have been drunk when he wrote it, while Carl Maria von Weber concluded that the master was “ripe for a madhouse”.