Beethoven: Symphonies No. 1 & 7 (Complete Symphonies, Vol. 1) Flanders Symphony Orchestra & Kristiina Poska

• Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827): Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21:
• 1 Beethoven: Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21: I. Adagio molto - Allegro con brio 08:28
• 2 Beethoven: Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21: II. Andante cantabile con moto 06:56
• 3 Beethoven: Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21: III. Menuetto (Allegro molto e vivace) 03:21
• 4 Beethoven: Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21: IV. Finale (Adagio - Allegro molto e vivace) 05:22
• Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92:
• 5 Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92: I. Poco sostenuto - Vivace 13:44
• 6 Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92: II. Allegretto 07:50
• 7 Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92: III. Presto 08:25
• 8 Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92: IV. Allegro con brio 08:52
• Total Runtime 01:02:58

Info for Beethoven: Symphonies No. 1 & 7 (Complete Symphonies, Vol. 1)

Beethoven’s nine symphonies are not only the most famous in the whole of music history, they are the pillars of our canon of western symphonic music. Although Beethoven was born 250 years ago, his symphonies have not lost any of their relevance, and even contemporary composers still measure themselves against this musical giant.

In his letter to Friedrich Treitschke (1814), Beethoven wrote that he had “always the whole in view” (“Immer das ganze vor Augen”). Although he was referring to his instrumental music, it is evident in every level of his work. We see it even in his first attempt to write the 1st Symphony (1795-96) when he was dreaming about one big ‘whole’, in which the symphony would be performed preferably without a break and where - against the usual tradition - the final movement provides the main weight and spirit of the piece. As he was ahead of his time and perhaps even ahead of himself, he was forced to withdraw from his ‘unifying’ dream due to a lack of compositional solutions at the time. Nevertheless, this vision accompanied him for the rest of his life. Four years later in 1800, preparing for his own Akademie in Vienna, he wrote a symphony still very much influenced by the era of Haydn, fulfilling largely the norms and expectations of the time. Despite his claim that he had learned nothing from the grand master, we witness a Haydnesque humour. For example, instead of the traditional middle movements, he offers us the 3rd movement twice (Andante as a kind of minuet and Menuetto as a scherzo). But Beethoven would not be Beethoven if ‘revolution’ was not written in his DNA and so he surprises and provokes us from the very first chords. To start a symphony with a seventh chord accompanied with string pizzicato was absolutely shocking and unheard of at that time. By doing so it seems as if he was questioning everything that had existed in this genre so far. We also see in the 1st Symphony already the typical way Beethoven explores the depths of the human conditon: the huge contrasts, moments where the light and carefree main theme can change in the blink of an eye to a dramatic existential crisis. Those moments are brief at this time, but they are there....

Flanders Symphony Orchestra
Kristiina Poska, conductor

Kristiina Poska
Born in the Estonian town of Türi, Kristiina Poska began studying choral conducting at the Music Academy in Tallinn in 1998 and then continued with orchestral conducting at the Music Academy Hanns Eisler in Berlin with Christian Ehwald in 2004.

Kristiina Poska has worked with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, the Radio Symphonies in Cologne, Leipzig, Saarbrücken/ Kaiserslautern, Frankfurt am Main and Vienna, at Vienna Konzerthaus with Camerata Salzburg, the Tonkünstlerorchester Niederösterreich, the Brucknerorchester Linz at the Oberösterreichische Stiftskonzerte, Munich Philharmonic, Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Tonhalleorchester Zurich, Sinfonieorchester Basel, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Gothenburg Symphony, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. Opera engagements brought her to Volksoper Wien, Hamburgische Staatsoper, Finnish National Opera, Royal Swedish Opera, the Norwegian Opera and Opera Zürich.

Kristiina Poska was supported by the Conductor’s Forum of the Deutscher Musikrat and won the prestigious German Conductor’s Prize in April 2013. Before that she had already received numerous international awards including from the Dimitris Mitropoulos Conducting Competition Athens 2006, from Donatella Flick Competition conducting the London Symphony Orchestra in 2010 as well as at the renowned Malko Competition in May 2012, where she also received the audience prize following the final concert with Danish National Symphony Orchestra.

Booklet for Beethoven: Symphonies No. 1 & 7 (Complete Symphonies, Vol. 1)