Haitink at 85: Beethoven Pastoral Symphony

Between the insistence and upheaval of his Fifth and Seventh Symphonies came Beethoven’s Sixth. Gone were tub-thumping argument and strident protest, in their place was a strange and wonderful radiance. The Sixth feels like a sudden step into daylight – into the softened world of the countryside, its quiet exaltation and its strengthening sense of communion. In 2011 Isabelle Faust won a Gramophone Award for her recording of Alban Berg’s haunting Violin Concerto, a eulogy for the passing of a child. She plays the same piece here, after Bernard Haitink explores Schumann’s orchestral tribute to Byron’s enigmatic Romantic spirit Manfred.

Tickets: £15-65