Sakari Oramo conducts Beethoven at Watford Colosseum

“There are and have been many princes.

But there is only one Beethoven!”.

Well, the man himself said it, and he had a point. 199 years since his death in 1827 no composer grabs life with both hands and makes you laugh, rage, rejoice and weep quite like Ludwig van B.

The BBC Symphony Orchestra’s chief conductor Sakari Oramo needs no excuse to play his music, and this Beethoven spectacular, live from Watford Colosseum, has it all.Thrill to the brooding power of the tragic Coriolan overture and feel your heart race as Beethoven blows history wide open in the epic (and explosive) Eroica symphony.

But Beethoven could turn on the charm too: and in his rarely heard Triple Concerto, BBC New Generation Artists the Astatine Trio celebrate the sunny (and surprisingly romantic) side of a compose who never gets old.