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gently out, supported to the end by the flickering unrest of the percussion. Honest and passionate troughout in its commitment, the work is both a war- ning and a summons to action." Ludwig van Beethoven completed his Piano Concerto No. 5 in EFIat Major Opus 73 in 1809. It was first performed in November 1810 in the Leipzig Gewandhaus with Friedrich Schneider as the soloist, and was an enormous success. Beethoven himself never publicly played the work, which he probably originally composed for a concert that failed to materialize. Unlike its predecessor, the more lyrical Piano Concerto in G Major, the Con certo in E Flat Major ist a powerful, heroic work of dominant virility which was probably not unaffected by the patriotic mood of its time. It is quite rightly often referred to as a „piano symphony" or „symphony with solo piano", and indeed the Orchestra plays an unusually large role in this truly Symphonie arrangement as an equal partner to the pianist, although this does not detract from the extraordinary demands made on the technical ability and intellectual understanding of the virtuoso. The first movement, broad in conception, comprises over half the work. It sur- passes all earlier concertos both in its vast formal extension (582 bars) and in its artistic content. After the orchestra has struck a chord fortissimo, the solo piano seems almost to improvize the rhapsodic introduction to the move ment. The principal theme, proud and pregnant, is then proclaimed in tutti, accompanied by a march melody, brushed in lightly in a minor key at first, as if from afar, accompanied by the dotted rhythm of the basses, and transfor- med into major by the hymnic rendering of the horns. The solo part returns in an impressive chromatic run, intervening in the process with variations on the main theme. A grandiose development now unfolds out of a dialogue between solo Instrument and orchestra that is dramatic in its confrontations, bold in ideas, overflowing with constant new themes and moods and abundant in pages of astounding beauty. Since the piano part draws in the virtuoso element to a considerable extent during the body of the movement in Order to intensify the expressiveness of the work, Beethoven dispenses in this con- certo with the conventional solo cadenza towards the end of the first move ment. The solo piano does, however, have one more opportunity to display its virtuoso talent in cogent harmony with the orchestral part, with a magnificent coda that brings the movement to a close. The gentle second movement (Adagio un poco mosso) Stands in stark contrast to the first with its contemplative introspection. Its solemn, searching melody, presented nobly by the strings, reappears in gentle solo variations throughout the rather short movement in rippling patterns of triplets and passages of thirds and sixths. This dreamlike mood flows direetly into the transition to the final rondo, with the opering motif of the rondo theme emerging softly in the piano at the end of the adagio to give the cue to the ingenious sparkle of the final movement in allegro. An extremely refined thematic work teeming with interpretations and combinations of the most varied kind characterizes this vivacious finale, which consists in its basic musical substance, alongside a number of secon dary themes, of the initial, almost recalcitrant dance theme, a stränge fusion of rhythms, the ensuing motif with its dotted rhythm, and finally a tuneful, lyrical melody. After a dialogue between the piano, apparently tiring and almost fading away, and the nettle drum, quietly but persistently repeating the punctuated theme, the solo Instrument returns suddenly to life to enter the exultant tutti. Robert Schumann's 4th Symphony in D Minor, Opus 120, is the composer’s main Symphonie work. He wrote it at the happiest time of his life, in the „Symphony Year" 1841, shortly öfter the „Spring Symphony", In spite of its lyrical wealth it did not meet with the deserved success at its premiere on 6th December 1841 at the Leipzig Gewandhaus under Ferdinand David. But the composer was convinced of the merit of his creation, and he wrote in 1842: „... I know that these pieces are every bit as fine as the first (symphony) and that sooner or later they will make their splendour feit in their own way." Ten years later he reworked the score. Shortly before the premiere of the second Version on 3rd March 1853 in Düsseldorf, he wrote to the Dutch conductor: „I have orchestrated the symphony anew and, I believe, better and more affectively than before." The work hastaken its place in the chronological register as his 4th symphony. Its basic mood is more serious and thoughtful than that of the „Spring Symphony", although the recurring, almost Beetho- ven-like grandeur still allows some play to more idyllic and capricious passa ges. The content reflects Schumann’s struggle against Philistine shallowness in the art and life of his time. As the subtitle, „Introduction, Allegro, Romance, Scherzo and Finale in one movement", suggests, the four parts flow into one another without a break — a typical expression of the Romantic preference for blurring and dissolving the classical sonata form. The different movements are closely interwoven, not only formally but also in their thematic substance, lending the work as a whole the character of a Symphonie fantasy and defi- ning it as a predecessor of the Symphonie poem which was alter to establish itself. A dark and forbidding battle mood dominates the slow introduction in the first movement; an ascending and descending quaver figure is exploited to the full. The major theme of the lively main part commences stormily in exci- ted semi-quavers. Its urgent tone determines the musical process of the whole movement, and it is not until the development that new ideas strike in with the trombones, the woodwind (a march motif) and the first violins (a gentle melody which constitutes the second theme). The mood shows the same flux as the intellectual content. But the elan of the whole leads into an exultant, hymnic close. After a brusque, unexpected chord in D minor, a folkloric theme
