Beethoven 8 Further Exploration

PROKOFIEV Classical Symphony

Herbert Von Karajan conducts the Berlin Philharmonic in the first movement of the Classical Symphony (on YouTube).

Further Listening:

Sample some of Prokofiev's other crowd-pleasing works and then try some of Stravinsky's Neoclassical pieces for another look at the 18th Century.

PROKOFIEV Romeo and Juliet ballet, Symphony No.5, Peter and the Wolf, Third Piano Concerto
STRAVINSKY Pulcinella, Symphony in C, Dumbarton Oaks, Violin Concerto

Further Reading:
Sergei Prokofiev, Diaries 1915-1923: Behind the Mask
Alex Ross, The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century
Harlow Robinson, Sergei Prokofiev: A Biography

BRAHMS Concerto for Violin and Cello in A minor

The great Oistrakh and Rostropovich play the Double Concerto (on YouTube).

Further Listening:
The BRAHMS Double Concerto performed by cellist Pablo Casals and violinist Jacques Thibaud (on Naxos) is perhaps the finest recording of the work, worth hearing even with the less-than-ideal sound quality.
BRAHMS Piano Concertos 1 and 2, Violin Concerto, Symphonies, Cello Sonata
MOZART Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola
BEETHOVEN Triple Concerto for Violin, Cello and Piano

Further Reading:
ed. Styra Avins, Johannes Brahms: Life and Letters
Jan Swafford, Brahms: A Biography

BEETHOVEN Symphony No.8

Further Listening:
BEETHOVEN: The Symphonies, John Eliot Gardiner, Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique, Deutsche Grammophon
HAYDN: Symphony No.94 'Surprise'
BEETHOVEN: String Quartet in F Major, Op.135

Further Reading:
Lewis Lockwood, Beethoven: The Music and The Life, WW Norton & Co.

Tafelmusik performs the finale of Symphony No.8 (on period instruments).

Beethoven 8 Review IV

For its final Canberra concert for the year last Saturday night, the Australian Chamber Orchestra led by Richard Tognetti was augmented to 19th century symphonic proportions of 24 strings together with eight woodwinds, six brass and timpani.

This allowed for the programming of a pair of major symphonic works by Brahms and Beethoven respectively, each very far from being the usual musical fare for a conductor-less chamber orchestra.

Yet such was Tognetti’s almost hypnotic direction of musical forces that the performances were not only constantly arresting in their musical qualities but also highly satisfying as expressive realisations of each compostion.

The Brahms Concerto for violin and cello in A minor, Op 102, is a late work of the composer and shares the warm expressive glow that suffuses so much of his later compositions.

It is a fine work, but rarely heard in the concert hall, mainly for the problem of obtaining two matching soloists. For this performance Tognetti was ably partnered by the Finnish cellist Timo-Veikko Valve, who joined the orchestra in 2006.

They provided a performance to relish, with the glorious slow movement realised by both soloists and orchestra in playing that had a true Brahmsian expressive glow.

The only reservation was that in the more vigorous moments of the outer movements the cellist sometimes could have provided a more forward tonal projection.

Beethoven’s Symphony No 8 in F, Op 83 is in many ways the composer’s most characteristic symphony, typical of his mature works in its concise utterance.

It received a highly charged performance, though the textures and rhythms were suitably lightened in the scherzando and menuetto movements.

And the finale made an exciting conclusion to the program which had started with an exuberant performance of the Symphony No 1 in D, Op 25, of Prokofiev, his so-called “Classical Symphony” because in form it looks back to the late-18th century symphony. But in its cheeky scoring it could never be mistaken for that period, being so typical of the composer with its 20th century musical content.

It was played with engaging elan, with tempos that were fast but crisply delineated, and it made a highly appropriate introduction to the musical delights to follow.

W.L. Hoffman | The Canberra Times

Beethoven 8 Review III

The final ACO concert for the year opened with a riveting performance of Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony (No.1). The first movement’s jaunty melody was crisp and tight, the dangerously exposed first violin lines flawlessly pitched and synchronised.

Rhythmic push and pull in the third movement recalled the composer’s ballet scores; the finale burst with verve and excitement.

Brahms’ Concerto for Violin and Cello in A minor is a rarely performed gem. Leader Richard Tognetti and principal cellist Timo-Veikko Valve (above) gave technically impressive and musically satisfying performances.

Valve’s opening cadenza had a striking intensity with generously spaced phrases; his demeanour was pensive but never introverted. Tognetti conducted and played the violin solo – a demanding feat of multi-tasking – yet his focus on detailed interpretation and musical communication with Valve was unmarred.

The Symphony No. 8 was the latest in ACO’s series of fresh Beethoven interpretations using an authentic, modest-sized string section.

The first movement had a sprightly opening tempo; the finale was enthused but controlled. The Allegretto scherzando was full and gutsy but never compromised in flexibility or clarity.

As usual, it was worlds apart from the stodgy style so often heard last century.

As a sad swansong, students form the Australian National Academy of Music, which will close next month because Federal Government funding has been withdrawn, augmented the ACO for two surprise encores.

They played The Waltz of the Flowers from Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker and Sibelius’s Scene with Cranes.

Tognetti described the collaboration as a show of solidarity – all very sympathetic, but missing an opportunity for a vehement protest against this senseless loss.

Anna McAlister | The Herald-Sun (Melbourne)

Beethoven 8 Review II

Giving Connex a run for its money, the Hamer Hall box office yesterday afternoon failed to cope with a sudden burst of interest from prospective patrons, so the Australia Chamber Orchestra began its final subscription program for this year quite late.

Not that it made much difference, artistic director Richard Tognetti urging his forces through the Prokofiev Symphony No.1, the Classical, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8 in brisk time.

In line with the group’s practice, some layers of grime were removed from the Beethoven score with a lilting swing to the first movement and a velocity in the Allegro vivace finale that would have worked to better effect in a hall with less air space.

Tognetti and his forces enjoyed the Prokofiev work, opening unexpected spaces in the string writing and gaining from the services of a group of wind players, some new to the ACO, horn expert Russell Davis from the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra among their ranks.

Not that you can find much new in this happy work, which gained from these executants a sparklingly clear timbre complex. The number of lower strings was slightly increased from the norm, to the advantage of balance in both symphonies.

At the core of the afternoon came the Brahms Double Concerto for Violin and Cello, Tognetti’s top-line solo in burnished partnership with the ACO’s principal cello, Timo-Veikko Valve. This combination radiated an intensity and dynamic drive that dispelled any thought of it figuring as an unworthy latecomer to the composer’s output. Valve produced a vital, emotionally charged line right from the opening cadenza and, with Tognetti, worked into the score’s underlying power, avoiding the temptation to take any sentimental short-cuts.

Hear the concert tonight, if you can; the concerto is one of the finest serious music experiences for 2008.

Clive O'Connell, The Age (Melbourne) | 10 Nov 2008

Beethoven 8 Review

Diving into Prokofiev’s Classical symphony like a seal into a pool of clear water, an expanded Australian Chamber Orchestra reaffirmed its dazzling unity and focus.

Prokofiev penned this symphony in the manner of Haydn. But although it is based on traditional structures, the composer infuses them with contemporary colour, sweet and sour harmonies and a gavotte that springs with angular rhythm. The exaggerated manipulation of these characteristics and the highly nuanced dynamics and phrasing were delivered with extraordinary precision in a superb opening performance. All four movements had a sharply defined personality and the musical gestures sparkled with clarity.

The final ACO tour for 2008 pays homage to musical forms of the classical period. This concept provides an ideal vehicle for an ensemble that excels in highlighting the changes in particular forms with imaginative shading, and a group that has an extraordinary flair for interpretative cohesion. These qualities stand out particularly with composers such Beethoven; not surprisingly, the performance of his Eighth at breakneck speeds – apparently as specified by Beethoven – was lush, richly detailed and fired by fierce energy.

When Prokofiev and Brahms were writing the Classical symphony and Double Concerto in A minor respectively, they were looking back to past fashions for inspiration. And while the Double Concerto sings in the spirit of romanticism, the forms is decidedly retro. It harks back to the days of Brahms’s delight in the concerto grosso form that manipulates conversational interplays between multiple soloists and the orchestra. Richard Tognetti and the charismatic, principal cellist Timo-Veikko Valve were the soloists here.

But while Brahms’s commanding orchestral declamations had a robust, visceral power, and both players wrenched the pathos and palette of varied tone from their Guarneri instruments, this tense rendition needed more magic and was the least convincing. Perhaps this was due to the awkward split in leadership that was rather unnecessarily shared between Tognetti and Helena Rathbone. On this evening, the soloists needed to soar more freely above an orchestral force.

At the end of the concert, Tognetti spoke to the audience about the Government’s decision to stop funding the Australian National Academy of Music. His comments were then followed by a poignant encore of Sibelius’s Scene with Cranes, with the artistic director noting that it was one of six pieces written as incidental music for a play about death.

Gillian Wills , The Australian | 06 Nov 2008

Euphoric Beethoven 8

In the latest in our series of mini-documentaries, Timo-Veikko Valve talks about the Brahms Double Concerto

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A Euphoric Sample

Karajan conducts the Berlin Phil. in the first movement of Prokofiev's Classical Symphony (featured in our upcoming national tour).