That question lies at the heart of Beethoven’s Symphony No.5. Opening with perhaps the most famous four-note motif in classical music, the work occupied Beethoven for four years as he grappled with worsening hearing loss that would eventually leave him almost completely deaf. Dark, radical and relentlessly driven, it builds from a single idea into a journey from tension to resolution, culminating in a blazing finale that redefined what a symphony could be.

Framed by Florence Price’s heartfelt Adoration and Mendelssohn’s spirited Concerto for Violin and Piano (performed by Martin James Bartlett and Sebastian Bohren), we explore three composers finding expression in strikingly different ways.