Sir Simon Rattle introduces Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4 (8 min.)

The opening concert of the 2010/2011 season also marked the beginning of an ambitious artistic project by the Berliner Philharmoniker and its chief conductor Sir Simon Rattle: the performance of all of the symphonic works by Gustav Mahler. With this series, the orchestra and its conductor celebrated two Mahler anniversaries: the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth on 7 July 2010, and the 100th anniversary of his death on 18 May 2011. Each of Mahler’s compositions was programmatically juxtaposed with works by other composers. The first concert of the cycle saw Mahler’s first symphonic contribution and Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony on the programme. In this introduction, Sir Simon Rattle explains how similar the introductions of both works are, and talks about the biographical background of Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony, one of the composer’s most carefree works.