Flying the Flag: The French Beethoven

Beethoven's electrifying Eroica Symphony concludes this concert, the first in the OAE's Flying the Flag series.

This first concert touches on three nationalities, two radicals and one lost genius. The lost genius is George Onslow - today little known - but this composer was nicknamed 'The French Beethoven'. The Radicals are Berlioz and Beethoven - Beethoven's Symphony No.3 was shocking in its day, one critic calling it 'crass monster'. Today it vies for status as one of the greatest symphonies ever written.