Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 - Schubert: Symphony No. 8 Les Dissonances & David Grimal

• Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827): Symphony no.3 in E flat major op.55, ’Eroica’:
• 1I. Allegro con brio16:16
• 2II. Marcia funebre - Adagio assai14:14
• 3III. Scherzo - Allegro vivace05:55
• 4IV. Finale - Allegro molto11:09
• Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828): Symphony no.8 in B minor D759, ’Unfinished’:
• 5I. Allegro moderato12:52
• 6II. Andante con moto08:00
• 7III. Scherzo (sketches)01:02
• Total Runtime01:09:28

Info for Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 - Schubert: Symphony No. 8

Symphony no.3 in E flat major op.55, ’Eroica’: During the summer of 1802 in Heiligenstadt, Beethoven sketched, among other works, his Third Symphony, the composition of which took him a year. On 26 August 1804, he wrote to his publisher Härtel to announce the dispatch of ‘a new grand symphony’: ‘The title of the symphony is really Bonaparte . . . – I think that it will interest the musical public.’ Beethoven had long passionately admired the Consul Bonaparte, but he was to hate the Emperor Napoleon I equally passionately when he learnt of his coronation on 2 December 1804. His pupil Ferdinand Ries portrays the scene: ‘He flew into a rage and cried out: “He too is nothing but an ordinary man!” . . . He went to the table, seized the title page from the top, tore it up completely and threw [the score] on the floor.’ And so the work became a ‘Heroic Symphony to celebrate the memory of a great man’, acquiring the subtitle ‘Eroica’ for posterity. ...

Symphony no.8 in B minor D759, ’Unfinished’: In 1823, Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828) received the Diploma of Honour from the Styrian Music Society of Graz. In return, he sent his friend Josef Hüttenbrenner, a member of the society, a new work dedicated to it and dated 30 October 1822. Passing from Josef ’s hands to those of his brother Anselm, the manuscript lay forgotten in a bottom drawer until it resurfaced in March 1860. Josef Hüttenbrenner mentioned in a letter to the musician Johann Herbeck that his brother ‘possessed a treasure in Schubert’s in B minor symphony, which we consider the equal of the great C major Symphony, his instrumental swansong, and of any of Beethoven’s symphonies – only it is unfinished’. It is to Herbeck that we owe the resurrection of the work and its first performance in 1865. ...

Les Dissonances
David Grimal, violin, conductor

David Grimal
is a musician who enjoys an international reputation for the originality of his musical career. In his tireless quest to reflect on the role of his art in society, he juxtaposes perspectives in order to make music differently by reinventing the sense of the collective.

As an internationally renowned soloist, he has been invited to perform under the direction of the leading conductors (Christoph Eschenbach, Heinrich Schiff, Lawrence Foster, Emmanuel Krivine, Mikhail Pletnev, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Peter Eötvös, Andris Nelsons, Jukka- Pekka Saraste, Christian Arming, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Stanisław Skrowaczewski, Michel Plasson, Hubert Soudant, François-Xavier Roth, Pascal Rophé, Gerard Korsten, James Judd, Matthias Bamert, Lawrence Foster, Jaap van Sweden etc.) with such formations as the Orchestre de Paris, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the Berliner Symphoniker, the Russian National Orchestra, the New Japan Philharmonic, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg, the Jerusalem Symphony, the Prague Philharmonia, the Gulbenkian Orchestra Lisbon, Sinfonia Varsovia, the Florida Philharmonic and the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra…

He is a welcome guest in the world’s foremost concert halls, among them Suntory Hall in Tokyo, the Philharmonie de Paris, the Vienna Musikverein, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Berlin Konzerthaus, Wigmore Hall in London, the Zurich Tonhalle, Lincoln Center in New York, the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, the Ferenc Liszt Academy in Budapest, the Victoria Hall in Geneva, the Auditorio Nacional in Madrid, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, the National Concert Hall in Taiwan and Bozar in Brussels.

Many composers have dedicated works to him, including Marc-André Dalbavie, Brice Pauset, Thierry Escaich, Lisa Lim, Jean-François Zygel, Alexandre Gasparov, Victor Kissine, Fuminori Tanada, Ivan Fedele, Philippe Hersant, Anders Hillborg, Oscar Bianchi, Guillaume Connesson, Frédéric Verrières, Richard Dubugnon, Eric Montalbetti …

An indefatigable researcher, he re-examines the early music repertory and in particular explores historically informed performance practice with such musicians as Andreas Staier, Brice Pauset, Mathieu Dupouy and Maude Gratton. He is a sought-after pedagogue, and currently teaches at the Hochschule für Musik in Saarbrücken, where he also develops conductorless projects with the student orchestra. He plays the 1710 “Ex-Roederer” Stradivarius with bows by Pierre Tourte, Léonard and François-Xavier Tourte and Pierre Grunberger.

David Grimal is regularly invited to sit on the juries of international competitions and gives masterclasses all over the world.

Les Dissonances
The violinist David Grimal, equally committed to the solo and chamber repertories, appears in the world’s leading classical music venues. As an innovative artist, he aims to reinvent musical practice by leading several projects successfully developing the spirit of “working together”.

For the past ten years he has devoted part of his career to developing Les Dissonances, of which he is artistic director. In this laboratory of ideas, conceived as a collective of musicians, David Grimal and his friends experience music as a joy rediscovered and tackle the symphonic repertory in the spirit of chamber music. The only ensemble that explores the large-scale symphonic repertory without a conductor, Les Dissonances have established residencies in prestigious institutions that offer long-term collaborations, including the Philharmonie de Paris, the Opéra de Dijon and Le Volcan in Le Havre, and appear regularly all over Europe.

Inspired by his experience with Les Dissonances, David Grimal develops projects as artistic director with other orchestras and regular ensembles.

As an artistic director, he develops the concept ‘Let’s play together!’ based on his experience with Les Dissonances. David Grimal rehearses the entire concert programme with the musicians in order to prepare them to play without a conductor at the concert. He shares the platform with them also by performing a concerto. He is invited by many orchestras to work with them and play the great violin concertos, notably Budapesti Vonosok, Anima Chamber Orchestra, Sinfonietta Cracovia, Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, Orchestra Sinfonica de Murcia, Bilbao Orkestra Sinfonikoa, Orchestre de l’Opéra national de Lorraine, National Orchestra of Metz, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Taipei Symphony Orchestra…

Booklet for Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 - Schubert: Symphony No. 8