For Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes, his appearance at the BBC Proms on Sunday will mark the end of a "musical pilgrimage" which has seen him perform Beethoven exclusively for the past four years.
He has worked on the project with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, directing the ensemble himself - without a conductor - from the piano stool.
His "Beethoven journey" began in 2011 with the idea to focus on the job of a unmarried composer. And while the three Proms concerts that will host his last performances of Beethoven's five piano concertos were deliberate from the beginning of the project, the Beethoven seed was planted in Andsnes much earlier.
"Beethoven's music has been growing in me since I was a child," he says, "and when I was a student I felt the revolutionary character of the music".
Later it was the "human aspect" of Beethoven's music, the search for "answers to the big questions", that touched the pianist.
And despite Beethoven's image as a serious and often grumpy character, Andsnes has found the piano concertos to be "full of happiness" and surprises.
There was an optimism on display, which carried into more melodramatic episodes, such as in the first movement of the third concerto in C minor. And an immense energy was shared between the pianist and the orchestra, who between them brought the movement to a roaring end.
Andsnes gave himself all the time in the world going into the second movement, which opens with a spacious piano solo. And he had plenty left in the tank for the show-pony prancings of the ultimate movement, with the Norwegian as ringmaster, bobbing up and down in his seat as he directed the musicians.
Working on the project with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Andsnes has performed Beethoven's five piano concertos, and the "Choral Fantasy" for piano, chorus and orchestra, in no fewer than 55 cities, in 22 different countries.
After such an intensive period working with just a limited number of works, the pianist says he has revisited "millions of little details".
"A lot of these details become part of the sub-conscious," he says, until the performance of these elements happens "automatically, in a way where it breathes more naturally."
"And then you are working on other things again, and making the performance more organic. And at the alike time, maybe more surprising."
Playfulness was complemented with punch and vigour in Thursday's Prom 9, which opened with concerto No. 1.
The Mahler Chamber Orchestra's clean sound and tight articulation heard the staccatos of the opening part double back from the back the Royal Albert Hall. The ensemble's phrasing popped with crisp definition, and with Andsnes and his piano tucked closely into the orchestra, transitions into bid solo passages were smooth and unfussy.
Being so near to the musicians is both a necessity and an advantage. Andsnes needs to conduct the orchestra sometimes with a mere elevate of the eyebrows - his hands are busy at the keyboard - and he relies heavily on the trust he has built up with the musicians over the course of the project.
And sitting with the orchestra at near quarters means they can listen each other very clearly and very quickly - enabling the instrumentalists to pick up on the pianist's slightest musical gesture.
Andsnes says concentrating solely on Beethoven was an possibility to "try to understand one language" better.
"It's been really liberating to have this focus," he says. "Beethoven was so great for the piano. That's where so much of his experimentation happened, and where he developed as a composer."
Andsnes admits that at the start of the project he was nervous. The received wisdom is that one can never grow tired of the great composers. But would it really job out that way? Perhaps - after four years - he would never be able to face Beethoven again?
The Proms "is the last destination on my Beethoven journey," he says, "and for sure, I will have a few years break from these concertos now."
"It's been very intense and I'm longing to play other music as well. But I will come back to this and I will love this music for ever."
The project reaches its end at the Proms on Sunday evening with Beethoven's ultimate "Emperor" piano concerto, and it will be a special occasion for the Norwegian pianist.
"I've been thinking about that second for a long time and I'm sure I will feel very emotional. It's been very intense.
"The really difficult object will be to say goodbye to the Mahler Chamber Orchestra," says Andsnes, "because there are deep friendships there now. That will be very difficult. I don't know when I will see them next."
"I was thinking of this as a once in a lifetime project. But one can find other composers one can do big projects with and I've been intrigued by the fact that my personal journey has led me to understand and love this music so much better.
Leif Ove Andsnes performs Beethoven Piano Concertos Nos. 2 and 5 with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra at the BBC Proms on Sunday 26 July.
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