From the "Concert pour la paix" at Victoria Hall in Geneva,
Daniel Barenboim and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra perform Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor Op. 37.
Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, Opus 37
00:00 Entrance
00:21 I Allegro con brio
18:08 II Largo
27:58 III Rondo: Allegro
Daniel Barenboim - conductor and piano
West-Eastern Divan Orchestra
Showing posts with label Ludwig van Beethoven. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ludwig van Beethoven. Show all posts
Friday, April 5, 2024
On This Day 5 April: Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 Was Premiered
By Georg Predota, Interlude
The Farmer’s Daughter
Beethoven in 1801
Beethoven’s landlord had a reputation for drunkenness, and for skirting the wrong side of the law. However, he also had a remarkably beautiful daughter, who had also managed to gain a bit of a reputation. A delightful anecdote reports that Beethoven was greatly captivated by her beauty, and made it a habit to stop his walk and gaze at her when she was working in the farmyard or the field. The farmer’s daughter, however, openly laughed at his clumsy advances.
However, the story isn’t quite finished, as the farmer was arrested and imprisoned for fighting in public. Hoping to impress the beautiful daughter, Beethoven went to the magistrate as an eyewitness to obtain his release. However, other witnesses came forward and refuted Beethoven’s telling of events, with the result that the farmer was forced to stay in jail.
Egyptian Hieroglyphs
Theater an der Wien
Beethoven, it is said, became very angry and abusive and was in danger of being arrested himself. A number of friends came to Beethoven’s aid, and convinced the magistrate of Beethoven’s position in society, his influence, and the power of his aristocratic friends. Having thus escaped jail, Beethoven set to work and drafted parts of a concerto for piano and orchestra in C minor.
And while the inspiration might well have been Beethoven’s infatuation and ultimate rejection by a farmer’s daughter, the work was still unfinished when Beethoven presented it to the public almost three years later. Ignaz von Seyfried, the new conductor at the Theater an der Wien agreed to turn pages for Beethoven, and he reports, “I saw almost nothing but empty leaves,” he wrote, “at most on one page or another a few Egyptian hieroglyphs wholly unintelligible to me and scribbled down to serve as clues for him.”
As Seyfried reports, “Beethoven played nearly all of the solo part from memory since, as was so often the case, he had not had time to put it all down on paper. He gave me a secret glance whenever he was at the end of one of the invisible passages, and my scarcely concealable anxiety not to miss the decisive moment amused him greatly.” It took Beethoven another year to write out the piano part, and the work first appeared in print in 1804.
First Concerto Maturity
Ignaz von Seyfried
It has been suggested that the C-minor concerto is the first of his five piano concertos that sound like mature Beethoven. But what is more, it also reflects an important advance in piano technology as the range of the instrument had been expanded beyond the standard five-octave span.
The opening “Allegro con brio” pays homage to Mozart’s famous C-minor concerto (K. 491) by imitating the intricate interplay between soloist and orchestra and by launching into a further sparkling development in the coda. Singing with quiet nobility, the piano initiates the “Largo” movement. Imaginative orchestration creates a hushed mood in the remote key of E major and after a magical dialogue between the piano and orchestra, the movements conclude with a typical Beethovenian fortissimo exclamation.
Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 – original score
Less ornate and more muscular, the concluding “Rondo-Allegro” returns us to the minor key, with a pair of principal themes introduced by the soloist. Alternating passages of exuberant humour and blunt drama the movement irresistibly accelerates with the orchestra providing a high-spirited conclusion.
Saturday, March 23, 2024
Anne-Sophie Mutter, Daniel Barenboim, Yo-Yo Ma – Beethoven: Triple Concert
Tuesday, September 19, 2023
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN, Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 19, Alexandra Dovgan
Thursday, August 24, 2023
The pianist who dared to challenge Beethoven to a musical duel in Vienna – and his fate…
Here’s what happens when you challenge one of history’s greatest composer-pianists to an improvisation battle. Spoiler: it didn’t go too well for Mr Steibelt...
Classic FM presenter and Beethoven specialist John Suchet tells one of the most remarkable and entertaining stories about the mammoth musical melee that took place in the cultural centre of Europe.
Who was Daniel Steibelt?
A native of Berlin, Daniel Steibelt was one of Europe’s most renowned piano virtuosos. He was a typical Prussian – formal, correct, proper. In 1800 he came to Vienna, no doubt with the aim of advancing his musical reputation.
It was quickly agreed among the city’s musical patrons that Steibelt should compete against Beethoven in an improvisation contest.
What was an improvisation contest?
These improvisation contests were a popular form of entertainment among Vienna’s aristocracy. One nobleman would support one virtuoso pianist, another would support the other. In the salon of one of the noblemen, the two pianists would compete with each other, each setting the other a tune to improvise on.
The playing would go back and forth, increasing in intensity, until a winner was declared. In his early years in Vienna, Beethoven was made to take on the city’s best talent and he quickly saw them off.
It was agreed that Prince Lobkowitz would sponsor Steibelt and Prince Lichnowsky sponsor Beethoven, the improvisation contest to take place in Lobkowitz’s palace.
Beethoven and Steibelt’s duel
As the challenger, Steibelt was to play first. He walked to the piano, tossing a piece of his own music on the side, and played. Steibelt was renowned for conjuring up a “storm” on the piano, and this he did to great effect, the “thunder” growling in the bass.
He rose to great applause, and all eyes turned to Beethoven, who took a deep breath, slowly exhaled, and reluctantly – to the collective relief of everyone present – trudged to the piano.
Beethoven’s turn to play
When he got there he picked up the piece of music Steibelt had tossed on the side, looked at it, showed it the audience, and turned it upside down!
He sat at the piano and played the four notes in the opening bar of Steibelt’s music. He began to vary them, embellish them, improvising on them with both great virtuosity and supreme musical insight.
He played on, imitated a Steibelt “storm”, unpicked Steibelt’s playing and put it together again, parodied it and mocked it.
Steibelt makes a dramatic exit…
Steibelt, realising he was not only being comprehensively outplayed but humiliated, strode out of the room. Prince Lobkowitz hurried after him, returning a few moments later to say Steibelt had said he would never again set foot in Vienna as long as Beethoven lived there.
Beethoven lived in Vienna for the rest of his life, and Steibelt kept his promise – he never returned.
Beethoven was never again asked to take on any piano virtuoso – his position as Vienna’s supreme piano virtuoso was established. And those four notes – the first bar of Steibelt's music? They became, in time, the impetus that drives the Eroica .
Listen to ‘Classical Legends with John Suchet’ on Classic FM this Sunday night at 9pm, or
Saturday, July 1, 2023
Did Beethoven invent Boogie-Woogie??
An exploration into one of the most bizarre sections of classical music I have ever heard...
Thursday, May 4, 2023
The secrets of the world’s most famous symphony - Hanako Sawada
Discover what makes Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony Number Five a musical masterpiece, and uncover the story behind its inception.
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Eight ferocious notes open one of the most explosive pieces of music ever composed. Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony Number Five premiered in 1808, and quickly won acclaim. Its central motif and raw emotionality have continued to resound through the ages. So what exactly makes Beethoven’s Fifth so captivating? Hanako Sawada uncovers the story behind this musical masterpiece.
Lesson by Hanako Sawada, directed by Yael Reisfeld.
Thursday, March 30, 2023
Beethoven’s Symphony No.5 fills Printworks in Aurora Orchestra’s thrilling immersive concert
19th-century orchestral grandeur meets the cavernous Printworks London for an immersive concert experience unlike any other...
Written at the start of the 19th century, Symphony No. 5 in C minor is one of the best-known works of the classical repertoire.
But arguably, perhaps the best way to experience the work is from the middle of the orchestra, where you can hear every instrument and fully immerse yourself in the soundscape carefully curated by the German maestro.
Often, this is a position only orchestral members themselves get to experience. But in this performance of the composer’s symphonic work, performed on 23 March 2023 by the Aurora Orchestra, 4,000 audience members had a chance to stand in between the 47-strong player ensemble over two evening concerts.
Hosted at Printworks London, a large industrial space which previously housed the printing press for British newspapers, the Daily Mail and Evening Standard, the concert saw the orchestra scattered across an array of platforms in the venue’s cavernous main hall. The audience was then able to move around between each section of the ensemble. Watch a video of the experience below.
In 2021, the Aurora Orchestra performed Beethoven’s Symphony No.7 at the same venue, which drew in an entirely new demographic of audience members to the unique immersive experience.
Asked why these two particular symphonies were chosen for this concert set-up, Jane Mitchell, Aurora’s creative director and principal flautist, told Classic FM: “They felt like really good starting points for us to try this new way of performing – partly because they’re so rhythmical and pack such a punch.
“They have this immediate character to all of the movements and there’s something about that immediacy and that rhythmic energy that infuses both pieces which make them incredibly suitable for this space.”
Principal conductor and founder of the orchestra, Nicholas Collon, added that the most exciting aspect of these concerts is the audience themselves.
“I was surprised by the strength of their response,” Collon told Classic FM. “And that’s partly due to the communal nature of these concerts, and having everyone squashed together.
“Also, as performers, we are already so aware of the power of music, it’s so exciting! But perhaps if you haven’t heard a symphony before, if you haven’t been so close up next to an orchestra, it is an extra thrilling thing to be a part of”.
Founded by Collon in 2005, the Aurora Orchestra has developed a reputation for the musicians’ ability to perform concert works entirely by memory, and often in unique and unexpected spaces.
Their audiences tend to differ from the usual demographics found at classical concerts, especially at their recent Printworks performances.
“I would say the demographic of these concerts, to be fair, has been quite clearly younger than your average concert hall,” Collon admitted.
“But regardless of age, it’s amazing how attentive the audience is. Even though as a whole, our attention spans are going down the pan, I think because people get to move around during the movements of the symphony, they get to experience the piece from multiple different angles.
“Perhaps they’ve spent the first movement by double bases, then they might choose to be near the trumpets for the second, and they get a totally different experience!”
Mitchell agrees and echoed: “It’s such an overwhelming experience to be in the middle of an orchestra. I always feel that as a player myself, so I just want the audience to be able to experience that too.
“I think there’s so much about the texture of an orchestra and the immediacy of being right up close with instruments and seeing how the different parts fit together. You just don’t get to experience that in a concert hall when you’re more than five rows back.”
Having the orchestra so spread out, as to allow the audience to travel between the instruments, was a challenge both the musicians and Collon had to adapt to.
“You’re more spaced out than you’d normally be,” Collon explained. “On stage perhaps the entire orchestra would be 20 metres wide, but in Printworks it’s probably more like 100 metres wide.”
To ensure the musicians could hear each other, the orchestra worked with cutting-edge technology provided by Southby Productions and d&b audiotechnik, which meant the orchestra could accurately retain a naturally immersive sound, whilst also ensuring a balance in the overall soundscape.
Interweaved between the movements of Beethoven, the Aurora partnered with composer, Nwando Ebizie who created a selection of electronic music, film and poetry in response to the 19th-century symphonic work.
Read more:
“Having Ebizie’s work next to our playing is so special for people to experience,” Mitchell said. “One of my favourite things about this performance, is how the music transitions from the world of electronic music and how that works in this space, to what we’re doing.
“The kind of journey you go on through listening to the Beethoven, she takes you on an almost parallel journey as well.”
While already a special concert in its own right, the performance had an extra tinge of poignancy as the venue Printworks is due to close later this year, the orchestra’s concert being one of its last events.
However, this certainly won’t mean the end of Aurora’s exploration into idiosyncratic performance spaces. As Mitchell reassured, “the production team behind Printworks actually run several buildings like this and we’re very happy to be guided by the building [when planning a concert].
“So if someone shows us a space – it could be an old church or it could be one of these more industrial spaces – we’re interested in responding to that.
“Rather than us dictating what kind of venue we want to perform in, ‘oh it has to be this dimension and have this kind of acoustic’, we actually enjoy the process of walking into a space and going, ‘Okay, what do we do? What’s going to speak here, and how would that work?
“It is a brilliant challenge for us to do that. To work directly with the building itself, and create something that’s really going to resonate with the audience.”
Thursday, March 23, 2023
10 pieces of classical music that will 100% change your life
Hold on to your hats – if you haven’t heard any of these musical works of genius, your life is about to be changed 10 times in a row.
Classical music can calm nerves, fire up the senses and spark creativity. It can also be uniquely life-affirming.
Here are the 10 major works we recommend you devote some time to. Needless to say, each of these examples should be digested in a single sitting.
J.S. Bach: St Matthew Passion
What is it?
It’s one of two ‘Passion’ oratorios that have survived since died (he could’ve written up to five), but it’s also become one of his most celebrated pieces. The original title is Passio Domini nostri J.C. secundum Evangelistam Matthæum (the ‘J.C.’ stands for Jesus Christ, which is maybe a bit familiar for someone he hadn’t met… but we’ll let him off).
Why it will change your life:
If you thought that Baroque music mostly dealt with plinky-plinky harpsichords, the St Matthew Passion will change mind. There are biblical proclamations of impending apocalypse littered throughout, and for each of them, Bach works in some sort of crushing atonality or strange chord, as if he’s wincing with pain each time it happens. This is such a human experience, composed at a time when human experiences weren’t chief among the aims of most Baroque composer composers.Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6
What is it?
Tchaikovsky’s final symphony, nicknamed ‘Pathétique’. The premiere performance was given just nine days before the composer died.
Why it will change your life:
Tchaikovsky was surely one of the most personally troubled of the great composers – and this symphony was essentially the outpouring of many of his issues, in a way. Many initially thought it was a lengthy suicide note, others pointed to the composer’s torment over his suppressed sexuality, while some thought it was just a tragic, sad, glorious and indulgent artistic expression. But the reason it’ll stay with you forever is that all of these contexts work in their own way, but it never detracts from how magisterial the music itself is. It’s a lesson in the very best ways of expressing emotions through music.Mahler: Symphony No. 2
What is it?
Massive, that’s what it is. Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 (known as the ’Resurrection’) is a 90-minute attempt to put the whole nature of existence into a piece music. So pretty ambitious.
Why it will change your life:
If you think any bit of music over three minutes long is a bit indulgent and full of itself, this single piece will convince you that sometimes it’s completely worth spending an hour and a half on one musical concept – even if it is a huge concept. No other composer could’ve made it more entertaining (listen out for death shrieks!), or more rewarding. The epic final few minutes are a stupidly generous reward on their own, but getting there is half the fun.Beethoven: Grosse Fuge
What is it?
One of the last pieces Beethoven wrote for string quartet, one of his celebrated ‘Late’ quartets. It’s a one-movement experiment in structure that was universally hated when it was first composed.
Why it will change your life:
It’s proof that not only can critics and audiences get it really, really wrong, but also that it’s all about interpretation. You can actually hear the struggle and the effort it must have taken to compose, which means it’s not always a relaxing listen, but few pieces in history have so nakedly shown how a composer can throw absolutely everything into a single work. And, in the end, it was hugely influential to serialist composers of the 20th century with none other than proclaiming it a miracle of music. How about that for delayed gratification?Mozart: Requiem
What is it?
The piece that Mozart wrote on his deathbed, in a furious fever. Well, if the movies are to be believed, anyway.
Why it will change your life:
From the opening Introitus, the mournful tone is set. It might just be us, but doesn’t it actually sound like Mozart is scared of death here? Aside from being spooky as anything, the Requiem is a haunting patchwork of things. Completed by one of Mozart’s pupils, Franz Süssmayr, it’s become a legendary mystery and the perfect way to end the story of one of history’s most celebrated geniuses – in other words, not end it all. What an enigma.Monteverdi: Vespers
What is it?
It’s Baroque genius Claudio Monteverdi’s defining work, a gigantic noise that some argue bridged the gap between the Renaissance and the early Baroque periods.
Why it will change your life:
It makes you realise that just because something’s really old, it doesn’t mean it’s automatically boring, or simply lauded because it was ‘groundbreaking’. Make no mistake about it – Monteverdi’s Vespers are hugely entertaining on their own terms. For starters, it’s simply enormous in scale. If you want to be crude about it (and we do) then you could describe it as Monteverdi taking church music to the opera, with all the drama that implies. Trumpets, drums, massive choruses, florid vocal lines… this really is the greatest hits of the early Baroque.Elgar: Cello Concerto
What is it?
The only cello concerto that Edward Elgar wrote, and one of the most famous concertos of all time.
Why it will change your life:
It’s proof that intense emotion can come from the most unlikely of people. We don’t want to get all mushy on you, but there’s something spectacularly English about how the ultimate stiff-upper-lipped curmudgeon, Edward Elgar, was able to convey his emotions in music rather than in words or actions. His private life was surprisingly tumultuous (that’s another story), and in pieces like the Cello Concerto it’s as if the gasket has blown and Elgar is finally able to let out all the pent-up emotion in a focused blast.Cellist Sébastien Hurtaud plays Elgar Cello Concerto (3rd movement)Played and edited by cellist Sébastien Hurtaud.Wagner: The Ring Cycle
What is it?
It is everything.Why it will change your life:
Realising for the first time that the world of opera could actually be this immersive is a very, very special feeling. Wagner’s whole four-opera cycle has a terrible reputation as simply ‘that exhausting long opera’ – but that perception couldn’t be further from the truth. The Ring Cycle is a fundamentally unhinged work of staggering genius, and the peak of operatic indulgence, excess and excellence. Ignore at your peril.Max Richter: Vivaldi: Recomposed
What is it?
A radical, beautiful re-invention of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons concertos, by modern indie-classical composer Max Richter.
Why it will change your life:
Listening to Vivaldi: Recomposed is like discovering an old jumper that you used to love has magically, miraculously lost all its bobbly bits and is actually at the height of fashion. What Richter manages to do so incredibly well is to subtly sneak in delightful additions, tweaks and reinventions to a classic you already know extremely well, and freshen it up not just for the modern era, but for the eras to come too.Gorecki: Symphony No. 3
What is it?
Possibly the most emotionally draining piece of music ever written.
Why it will change your life:
There’s a reason Polish composer Henryck Górecki called his third symphony the Symphony of Sorrowful Songs. Each movement features a solo soprano singing texts inspired by war and separation, but it’s the second movement that really stands out. The text is taken from the scribblings on the wall of a Gestapo cell during the Second World War and, as you can imagine, it’s pretty harrowing stuff – but Górecki makes it sound so transcendental that it’s hard to believe it was written in such dire circumstances. He said himself that he wanted the soprano line “towering over the orchestra”, and it certainly does that.
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