London Philharmonic Orchestra: 2007 - Beethoven's Fifth

Sibelius’s Third Symphony takes shape amidst the swirling mists of the English Channel; Beethoven’s Fifth thunders into life with four notes that absolutely everyone can recognise. ‘Thus fate knocks at the door!’, Beethoven is said to have declared – but his best-known symphony is on a one-way race to glory, just as Sibelius’s, completed a century later in 1907, ends with a vision of a whole world drenched in sunlight. Edward Gardner conducts this latest illuminating pairing in our 2020 Vision project – and, looking back to 2007, accompanies soprano Sally Matthews in the late Henri Dutilleux’s beautiful meditation on transience and love.