Our chief conductor was inspired to put together an unusual programme for this concert evening by a major concern: ‘I always want to open the audience's ears. We are playing John Cage's ‘4'33’, i.e. four and a half minutes of composed silence, attacca with Ligeti's ‘Atmosphères’ and a large Bach arrangement. I want to get away from our expectations of this music, which probably have nothing at all to do with how people heard it in Bach's time or how we could be moved by it if we leave out all the filters. I want to make it possible to experience the silence, to hear the vibrations of the universe in Ligeti, and then suddenly order comes into the universe with Bach and the C minor Fantasy.’

Ludwig van Beethoven's 5th Symphony from 1807/08 begins with four notes that are among the most famous beginnings of works in music history. Its universe, according to a popular interpretation, is the individual and his fate. This is why it unofficially bears the German nickname ‘Fate Symphony’, which was not given to it by Beethoven. The composer struggled with his early onset of deafness. He found the strength not to despair in composing and also wanted to uplift fellow human beings in distress: ‘Anyone who knows my music cannot become completely despondent.’