Duo Pleyel: Beethoven’s ‘Eroica’ Symphony

Event details

Richard Egarr, Alexandra Nepomnyashchaya  fortepiano

Beethoven   Symphony no. 1 in C, op. 21, arr. Carl Czerny
Beethoven   Symphony no. 3 in E-flat, op. 55 (‘Eroica’), arr. Carl Czerny

Named after their beautiful 1848 piano, Alexandra Nepomnyashchaya and Richard Egarr have been working together as Duo Pleyel for the past eight years to bring the rich and exciting repertoire for piano four-hands to a wider audience. In May 2023, Duo Pleyel began a three-year recording project of the complete Beethoven symphonies in extraordinary four-hand arrangements by his undervalued student Carl Czerny. These are fascinating and hugely important keyboard transcriptions from historical, musicological and purely musical perspectives. Czerny was perhaps the most important teacher and virtuoso before Liszt (one of Czerny’s students!). As a pupil of Beethoven, Czerny knew and had unique insight into his teacher’s music, and Beethoven often entrusted Czerny with the performance of his piano works. Czerny’s brilliant transcriptions of Beethoven’s symphonies were known to the composer and were made with masterful skill and care. You will be amazed at what you hear in these spectacular arrangements of perhaps the greatest symphony cycle in history!

To mark the bicentenary of Beethoven’s death in 2027, our 2026/27 season offers audiences the chance to experience four of these breathtaking arrangements ahead of the highly anticipated release of Duo Pleyel’s recording of the symphonies in the spring. In the first of these performances, Duo Pleyel pairs Beethoven’s Symphony no. 1 with his monumental ‘Eroica’ Symphony. While his First Symphony honours the traditional classical style of Haydn and Mozart, Beethoven’s hallmark dynamic contrasts and tonal shifts are very much present in the work. Building upon these early innovations, the ‘Eroica’ Symphony breaks many formal and harmonic boundaries, ushering in Beethoven’s ‘heroic’ period. Audiences can hear two more of Beethoven’s middle-period masterpieces in the spring, as our Beethoven 200 celebrations continue!

If you would like to discuss any access requirements with us, please contact the Box Office. Information about our companion card scheme, group bookings and free tickets for under-16s can be found on our website.