NSOI: Peter Whelan conducts Beethoven's Symphony No. 2

National Symphony Orchestra Ireland
Peter Whelan conductor
Paula Murrihy mezzo-soprano

Mendelssohn The Hebrides (Fingal’s Cave)
Mahler Songs from Des knaben Wunderhorn (The Boy’s Magic Horn):

Rheinlegendchen 
Wer hat dies Liedlein erdacht?
Verlor’ne Müh 
Das irdische Leben 
Lob des hohen Verstandes 
Wo die Schönen Trompeten blasen 
Urlicht

Beethoven Symphony No. 2

Conductor and Artistic Partner Peter Whelan leads National Symphony Orchestra Ireland in a richly evocative programme, travelling from windswept seascapes to the vibrant spirit of early Beethoven. 

The concert opens with Mendelssohn’s atmospheric overture The Hebrides (Fingal’s Cave), inspired by the composers travels through Scotland as a young man and the dramatic beauty of the Hebridean coastline which clearly captured his imagination.

Folk-inspired songs, drawn from an early 19th-century collection of German poetry, blending the everyday with the fantastical, can be heard in selections from Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Boy’s Magic Horn) sung by Irish mezzo-soprano Paula Murrihy, acclaimed for her “warmth and expressive intelligence” (The Irish Times). 

The programme concludes with Beethoven’s energetic Second Symphony, a vibrant, optimistic work that reflects the composer’s bold creativity and irrepressible energy, forming part of Beethoven’s 200th anniversary celebrations at the National Concert Hall. 

Presented by NCH