Elisabeth Leonskaja / The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen

Beethoven pur

As a native-born Rhinelander, Beethoven may have been raised a Catholic, but he never felt at home with the institution of the Church. His image of god was a universal one; for him, belief in a higher power did not stand in contradiction to the Enlightenment ideals he represented. Only as his deafness became progressively worse did he turn to god again in letters and diary entries. It was also during this time that he composed his powerful Seventh Symphony, through which he battled against his difficult fate. The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen now combines that symphony with Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto, which extends far into Romanticism in its symphonic scope. Elisabeth Leonskaja, the grande dame of the piano, returns to the Elbphilharmonie to perform the piece.