GSO & George Petrou

The First: Ludwig van Beethoven was already 30 years old when he rolled out his first symphony. Was it a sense of trepidation in the face of the greats Mozart and Haydn that made him hesitant? Indeed, he gained “Mozart’s spirit from Haydn’s hands”, as this successful take-off and the following eight works in the genre demonstrated: the First was premiered in 1800 – and in fact marked the dawn of a new musical age.

Jon Lord, founding member of the rock group Deep Purple, also wanted to create something major, something of his own, in the mid-1970s. His rock-classical opus Sarabande is a powerful dance between genres. Fantasy, Sarabande, Aria, Gigue, Bourrée, Pavane, Caprice – baroque music isn’t far off, but here it transforms into highly skilled fun complete with a seventies groove.