Honeck conducts Beethoven’s Fifth

‘This is the sound of fate knocking at the door’, Beethoven is reputed to have said of the hammer blows at the start of his Fifth. True or not, Beethoven himself was unable to avoid fate: he became stone deaf. Nevertheless, his symphony radiates something invincible – just as Schumann’s Cello Concerto, written while insanity was at his heels, emanates a golden glow. As long as there’s music, there’s hope – that must be it.