Con brio (Widmann)

Mariss Jansons said that the new piece should be performed along with a pure Beethoven program.^[2] The overture was composed in 2008.^[1] It was written in a "mad hurry".^[3]

Widmann refers to musical characteristics of Beethoven’s 7th and 8th Symphonies.^[1][4] There are no exact quotations from the symphonies, but he has chosen the same instrumentation.^[5][3] According to Widmann, it is an exercise in fury and rhythmic insistence.^[1] In a very small space, a sonata form is presented before the recurring material is arranged into a scherzo.^[6] The overture is run through with Beethovenian riffs, flourishes and humor and is like a deconstruction of Beethoven.^[5] The piece, full of extended techniques,^[3] has a cut-and-paste structure.^[5] The timpani are in the focus from the beginning of the overture.

Motif I

Motif II

The metronome markings are deliberately selected at a fast speed.^[1] The score contains six dense pages of written instructions.^[3]

The concert overture is scored for a Beethoven sized orchestra, with 2 flutes (both doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, and strings.^[1]

Con brio was premiered by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mariss Jansons on 25 September 2008 in Munich, Gasteig, Philharmonie.^[1]

• Con brio (with Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 & 8), Mariss Jansons, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (BR-Klassik 2015) OCLC 1017093816

Anthony Tommasini from The New York Times wrote: "effective as a warm-up".^[5] David Allen from The New York Times wrote: "One of the most performed orchestral works written this century".^[3]