BEETHOVEN / NO. 7

Beethoven
Piano Concerto No. 1
Symphony No. 7

Brilliant virtuosity and tragic intensity—Sunwook Kim and Insula orchestra breathe new life into Beethoven. From the luminous first piano concerto to the Seventh Symphony and its famous Allegretto, a powerful musical fresco carried by a double orchestra.

Beethoven remains one of Insula orchestra’s signature composers. For the Piano Concerto No. 1—the only one the orchestra has yet to perform—Laurence Equilbey invites Sunwook Kim, a masterful and charismatic pianist acclaimed by the world’s greatest stages. Composed in 1813, Symphony No. 7 reflects and magnifies the dramatic climate of a Europe engulfed in war and bloodshed, especially in its second movement, driven by an unrelenting funeral march. Insula orchestra restores the original soul of the piece by performing the symphony with Insula camerata as a double orchestra.

“I don’t think No. 1 has any less power or artistry than Nos  3, 4 or 5. When I was younger I heard it as a mechanical C‑major showpiece full of scales. Now I hear what the mechanics are doing – the wit, the subito turns, the long‑breathed lines – and I can feel them, not just know them.”
Sunwook Kim

Read the full feature of Sunwook Kim on Bachtrack

This concert is interpreted on period instruments. 

La Fondation d’Entreprise Société Générale est mécène d’Insula camerata.