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After visiting his wounded nephew Karl in Gneixendorf in December 1826, Beethoven became ill as he travelled home to Vienna. Weeks later, the composer was dead – Karl his sole heir. One of his last completed works, the Große Fugue, moves through themes in an unfolding musical journey – tonight we hear its string orchestra arrangement by Felix Weingartner.

Brett Dean’s brand-new work is one of a series instigated by the pianist Jonathan Biss, each reflecting a piano concerto by Beethoven. Gneixendorf Music responds to the composer’s Emperor Concerto and takes the composer’s fateful winter journey of 1826 as its theme. Journeys of other sorts complete the concert: Kaija Saariaho’s work inspired by a drive across California and Jean Sibelius’s musical depiction of a sleigh ride from Helsinki to Kerava.