articles / Beethoven

‘They Must Have Gone Berserk!’

Emanuel Ax will join the San Francisco Symphony this week to perform a work that a very young Beethoven played, hoping to make a splash in Vienna – as both a composer and performer. The Piano Concerto No. 2 was actually written before what we know of as his first Piano Concerto (C Major) but Ax says it has all the drama and inventiveness that Beethoven would become known for as he matured.

‘They Must Have Gone Berserk!’

“Most of the early music is showing off… both pianistically and compositionally,” Ax explains. “I can’t imagine what people must have thought when he came to Vienna and started playing this music, they must have gone berserk!” It was a time when composers who were performers were getting their fame by playing with pyrotechnical skill. “As good as piano playing was, from people… obviously, like Mozart and Clementi and so forth, I don’t think anything of that magnitude and sheer velocity had ever been heard.” He kept to some of the conventions of the day, but showed his creativity. “It’s an extremely inventive piece, I think. There are these wonderful moments of stillness that go off into a very weird key. And that happens in this piece twice, and he uses that later on in what we know as the first concerto. There are also very difficult and inventive pianistic things in the first movement, and very difficult skips, and so forth in the last.  I think the slow movement is very inspired, very beautiful, deeply felt. I think it’s a fabulous piece.” Several years after premiering the piece, he revised the first movement cadenza. “It sounds a little bit like spots in the Hammerklavier. And a lot of fugal technique. Very weird harmonies, and very inventive and dramatic. The cadenza is special, I think. I know it doesn’t quite fit the piece, and when you finish this cadenza, and then you get this little playout, it sounds incredibly weird, actually. Because it has nothing to do with what came before. But it’s hard to resist playing this cadenza. It’s too good to miss.”

Written by:
Jeffrey Freymann
Jeffrey Freymann
Published on 03.06.2020

MORE LIKE THIS

A Beethoven Symphony ‘Retouched’ by Mahler

A Beethoven Symphony ‘Retouched’ by Mahler

Redwood Symphony concludes its season with a special concert featuring Mahler's retouched version of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, in collaboration with Bay Choral Guild and Masterworks Chorale.

Beethoven
10/01/2019
Jonathan Biss Finishes Beethoven Cycle at Cal Performances

Jonathan Biss Finishes Beethoven Cycle at Cal Performances

Pianist Jonathan Biss concludes his seven-concert series at Cal Performances, having played all 32 of Beethoven's piano sonatas. Biss highlights the variety and endlessness of Beethoven's works.

Beethoven
03/06/2020
Beethoven’s Quartet of ‘Thanksgiving’

Beethoven’s Quartet of ‘Thanksgiving’

Beethoven's String Quartet in A Minor, Op. 132, features a movement expressing gratitude for recovery from illness. It alternates between prayerful chorales and lively sections, reflecting his mortality.

Beethoven
12/17/2019
A Tour Through All of Beethoven’s Quartets

A Tour Through All of Beethoven’s Quartets

The Alexander String Quartet collaborates with music historian Robert Greenberg for a series exploring Beethoven's quartets. The series, marking Beethoven's 250th birth anniversary, runs from October to May.

Beethoven
03/08/2021
The Endless Variety of Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas

The Endless Variety of Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas

Pianist Jonathan Biss begins a seven-concert series at Cal Performances, playing all 32 of Beethoven’s piano sonatas. He aims to showcase the variety in Beethoven's works.

Beethoven
10/01/2019
California Symphony’s ‘Beethoven and Bernstein’

California Symphony’s ‘Beethoven and Bernstein’

The California Symphony honors Leonard Bernstein's centennial with a concert featuring music from Candide, West Side Story, and Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3.

Beethoven
03/06/2020