A Day in the Mountains / SMS 5
Program
Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra
Kahki Solomnishvili conductor
Ludwig van Beethoven’s Eighth Symphony was first performed just two months after the premiere of his Seventh Symphony. In contrast to the audience’s enthusiasm for the latter, however, the new work was met with a rather lukewarm reception. When Carl Czerny asked Beethoven why the Eighth was less popular than the Seventh, the composer retorted: “Because it is much better.” Faced with the virtuosity of the orchestra, let us first surrender to its vehemence, and then we can set off to the mountains with Richard Strauss.