Ultima
Jörg Widmann
Carlin Widmann Jörg Widmann
Ludwig van Beethoven

Symphony No. 7 is said to have been one of Ludwig van Beethoven’s (1770–1827) personal favorites among his own works. He conducted its premiere in 1813 at a benefit concert for returning soldiers, which became one of the greatest successes of his lifetime. The symphony ranges from the famous, deeply melancholic second movement to its frenetically joyful finale.

Jörg Widmann (b. 1973) composed his orchestral work Con brio for Mariss Jansons and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in 2008. Since then, it has become one of the most frequently performed orchestral pieces of our time. In Con brio, Widmann employs the same instrumentation that Beethoven used in his Seventh and Eighth Symphonies. Rather than quoting Beethoven’s music directly, he playfully engages with its stylistic elements.

Widmann composed his Violin Concerto No. 2 in 2018 for his younger sister, Carolin Widmann, a world-class violinist specializing in contemporary music. The siblings often played together as children, with Jörg frequently challenging Carolin to explore new and unconventional techniques on the violin. This spirit of experimentation is deeply embedded in Violin Concerto No. 2.