Philharmonia Orchestra: Schubert – Symphony No 9

When: Sunday 24^th March 3pm

Where: Royal Festival Hall

Info: In afternoon of Viennese genius with Schubert’s mighty Ninth Symphony, alongside two works by Mozart.

Schubert’s ‘Great C major’ Symphony (so-called to distinguish it from the earlier, shorter ‘Little C major’) combines the gift for melody that shines from Schubert’s songs and chamber music with grand scale of a full symphony orchestra, to stunning effect. Schubert composed the symphony during a summer when it seemed he might be restored to health. He responded to this reprieve with music full of life and optimism, from the questing opening horn-call to the unstoppable momentum of the finale, in which he quotes Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy’.