Beethoven was inspired to write his Coriolan Overture by the 1804 tragedy by Austrian dramatist Heinrich Joseph von Collin about the Roman general Coriolanus, who lived in the 5th century BC. The work starts with a rebellious main theme that begins softly and gradually grows in volume. Richard Wagner had words of praise for the auxiliary theme: 'The defiant man is contrasted with gentleness and tender dignity; we hear the child's pleading, the wife's sobbing and the mother's painfully severe exhortation for a hard heart to abandon its destructive plans.' The closing theme, depicting Coriolan's inner struggle, expresses grief and suffering. Schumann wrote his Cello Concerto in A minor in 1850, a remarkably productive year for him. The piece - one of the loveliest works in the Romantic literature for the cello - loudly proclaims the deep spiritual connection between the instrument and the composer. As for Beethoven's Fifth, we'll quote E. T. A. Hoffmann, who was one of the first to appreciate the work's power and beauty: 'Beethoven possesses the romantic spirit of music deep in his soul, and with what high genius, what profound thought, he draws upon it to animate his works. We never felt this more powerfully than with the Fifth Symphony, which from beginning to end to an ever increasing degree unfurls Beethoven's romanticism better than any other work of his and irresistibly beguiles the listener into his infinitely marvellous realm of the spirit.'

Presented by: Zugló Philharmonic