In July of 1809 Beethoven wrote to his publisher, “What a destructive, disorderly life I see and hear around me, nothing but drums, cannons and human misery in every form.”
Under the cloud of war, Beethoven kept writing his Fifth Piano Concerto.
By the time the work premiered in 1811, the composer was almost completely deaf. Someone else had to play the piano solo.
Hear his Piano Concerto No. 5, “Emperor,” played by Mexican pianist and long-time Chicago resident Jorge Federico Osorio.
Andreas Delfs told WXXI’s Julia Figueras he especially loves the slow movement, since “Beethoven shows his vulnerable side, which he does not like to show that often. This is a substantially long movement. And it's really Beethoven showing his fragility.”
You’ll also hear Sarah Kirkland Snider’s "Something for the Dark," a musical journey of adversity, growth, and hope. After intermission, Delfs conducts Sergei Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5.
“What you hear in the music is a composer at the very top of his ballgame,” Delfs says of the Prokofiev. “I simply find it precocious, his best work. It's his most profound symphony.”
Hear more about the performance On Record here.