A Stunning Symphony

Beethoven's boundary-defining portrait of the human spirit, Symphony No.3 - Eroica stars with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Gabor Takacs-Nagy. The symphony began life as a tribute to Napoleon, but when the revolutionary French leader turned tyrant, Beethoven scribbled out the name of his original dedicatee, instead focusing on the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of the human spirit. 

Its considerable length, technically demanding playing and uncompromising aesthetics, from the angular dissonances of the first movement to the expressive range and explosive climax of the fourth, forced early audiences to rethink what a symphony should be - i.e. not just a decorative form of entertainment, but an earth-shattering and challenging intellectual pursuit.