East Neuk Festival - Meetings with Great Composers II

Friends from boyhood, Reicha and Beethoven make a fascinating pair. They met in Bonn then Beethoven moved to Vienna and stayed there for the rest of his life, while Reicha moved around war-torn Europe, eventually settling in Paris where he became one of the most distinguished teachers and composers of his time. In this programme we have key works by both men that happen to be published in the same year, 1818. Beethoven’s heroic sonata is his longest and most demanding, while the Reicha is one of the finest of his 25 wind quintets.

Reicha: Wind Quintet in E-flat, Op. 88, No. 2

Belfiato Wind Quintet

Beethoven: Sonata in B-flat, Op. 106 (Hammerklavier)

Boris Giltburg, piano