BEETHOVEN, SYMPHONY NO. 4

Composed between the "Eroica" and the monumental Fifth, Beethoven's Fourth Symphony (1807) was appreciated for its modest length and joyful atmosphere. Schumann described it as "a slender daughter of Greece between two Nordic giants". Emilie Mayer (1812-1883), sometimes called "the female Beethoven", was an accomplished composer, sculptor and co-director of the Berlin Opera. She devoted her life to music, writing eight symphonies and seven remarkable overtures. This evening of Romantic music is rounded off with Mendelssohn's Second Concerto, in which the talented Russian violinist Alena Baeva will be making her Liège debut.