Handel and Haydn Society: Beethoven Symphony no.5

BEETHOVEN

SYMPHONY

NO. 5

Symphony Hall

Audience members often tell us that H+H concerts re-introduce them to masterpieces they had never before heard with such freshness and vigor. That’s because H+H delivers with the vitality the composer intended, before 200 years of history weighed it down. Beethoven’s immortal Fifth Symphony, rising from its distinctive four-note opening, carries you with dramatic intensity from tragedy to triumph, from darkness into the light. And H+H’s performance of this iconic score on the kinds of instruments Beethoven knew and wrote for, creates a sound that crackles with freshness and authenticity, giving it an almost ink-not-quite-dry feel.

“Their love of the music is palpable… the playing oozes with the fun they must have been having.”