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Beethoven before he was 30, Perth Concert Hall MICHAEL TUMELTY, Music Critic December 05 2007
One of the zaniest-titled concert series in Scotland might just prove one of the most illuminating. Featuring violinist Alexander Janiczek and pianist Llyr Williams, the series is founded on an intriguing hypothesis: if Beethoven had died by his 30th birthday, in 1800, what would his legacy have been? What had he achieved by that time? The thesis, of course, is daft - in 1800 Beethoven still had 27 years to go, and all of the epochal elements in his output yet to create.
But somehow, rather magically, the opportunity to discard hindsight and examine an area of his music outside of its later context produced revealing results.
Janiczek and Williams played two of the violin sonatas, the A major opus12 number 2 and the A minor opus 23, underlining, as they did so, the phenomenal originality and variety of Beethoven's invention, even at an early stage of his career, with the dangerous harmonies, the dipping in and out of tradition with the violin now playing a subordinate role, then, in a sophisticated and idiomatic style, exploring a democracy of shared responsibility with the piano. Wit, playfulness, extroversion, introspection, energy, attack, exuberance, vital drama and streams of melodious lyricism paraded across Perth's fine auditorium. The message? This was not early Beethoven, nor lesser Beethoven, nor middle-drawer Beethoven; this was real Beethoven.
In between the violin sonatas, the extraordinary Williams played the opus 10 C minor Piano Sonata, a warhorse for capable students who like to flex muscle and strut their athleticism. The super-intelligent Williams went the other way in a statesman-like interpretation with a second movement that, one realised, was years ahead of its time. Fascinating.
Beethoven before he was 30, Perth Concert Hall MICHAEL TUMELTY, Music Critic December 05 2007
One of the zaniest-titled concert series in Scotland might just prove one of the most illuminating. Featuring violinist Alexander Janiczek and pianist Llyr Williams, the series is founded on an intriguing hypothesis: if Beethoven had died by his 30th birthday, in 1800, what would his legacy have been? What had he achieved by that time? The thesis, of course, is daft - in 1800 Beethoven still had 27 years to go, and all of the epochal elements in his output yet to create.
But somehow, rather magically, the opportunity to discard hindsight and examine an area of his music outside of its later context produced revealing results.
Janiczek and Williams played two of the violin sonatas, the A major opus12 number 2 and the A minor opus 23, underlining, as they did so, the phenomenal originality and variety of Beethoven's invention, even at an early stage of his career, with the dangerous harmonies, the dipping in and out of tradition with the violin now playing a subordinate role, then, in a sophisticated and idiomatic style, exploring a democracy of shared responsibility with the piano. Wit, playfulness, extroversion, introspection, energy, attack, exuberance, vital drama and streams of melodious lyricism paraded across Perth's fine auditorium. The message? This was not early Beethoven, nor lesser Beethoven, nor middle-drawer Beethoven; this was real Beethoven.
In between the violin sonatas, the extraordinary Williams played the opus 10 C minor Piano Sonata, a warhorse for capable students who like to flex muscle and strut their athleticism. The super-intelligent Williams went the other way in a statesman-like interpretation with a second movement that, one realised, was years ahead of its time. Fascinating.
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