Le Concert Olympique . Jan Caeyers

For years, Jan Caeyers has enjoyed the reputation of being a first class Beethoven specialist. Recently he published a biography of the German master that is as lively as it is conscientious. After establishing the Beethoven Academy in 1993, he has now launched a new orchestra, Le Concert Olympique. It is an international ensemble that endeavours to set the music of Beethoven in a music history perspective by combining it with the compositions of immediate predecessors and successors from the late classical and early romantic periods. It is no accident that Frank Braley, a kindred spirit, is joining them to open the concert with this brand new orchestra in our Blue Hall. In 1795, Beethoven wrote his First Piano Concerto in a relatively short time and gave the first performance himself in Vienna. The work is celebratory in character with trumpet and timpani illustrating how he tried to shift the boundaries of convention. In his Second Symphony too, Beethoven developed his own unmistakable sound: capricious harmonic twists, assertive themes and surging proportions show that his work and his inventiveness are in no way inferior to the symphonic masterpieces of his former teacher Joseph Haydn. Haydn's 88th symphony is a real jewel: dazzling, energetic and compelling.