(Eric and Colin Jacobsen)
By Montague Gammon III
One week after the Virginia Symphony Orchestra’s mid-month Opening Weekend, their annual one composer Beethoven Celebration comes to Chrysler Hall for two Norfolk performances, one on Friday evening, Sept. 20, plus a shorter Coffee Concert at 11a.m. that day, and then to the Ferguson Center in Newport News for a Saturday, Sept. 21 evening concert.
Music Director Eric Jacobsen conducts all three; his decades-long musical partner, brother Colin Jacobsen, solos in Ludwig van Beethoven’s Violin Concerto. (These are Eric’s only Chrysler Hall podiums this season, according to the VSO website.)
The Evening programs sandwich the 1806-07 Concerto between Beethoven’s brief Coriolan Overture and his 4th Symphony, both from 1807; in the condensed no-intermission coffee concert, the full Overture precedes the 3rd Movement of the Concerto, which is followed by the 1st Movement of the Symphony.
Eric Jacobsen wrote in an email, “We are so excited about the new addition of these coffee concerts…a taste of of the joy of everything that we are doing in the…full evening performances.”
Beethoven composed this Overture for Heinrich Joseph von Collin’s little remembered 1804 play, Coriolan. Like Shakespeare’s 1608 Coriolanus (itself perhaps known best from “Brush Up Your Shakespeare,” Cole Porter’s Broadway tune for Kiss Me Kate), it’s about a privileged and wealthy, patrician Roman general–perhaps historical, perhaps not–who, incensed that the Republic’s merely plebian citizens have thrust him out of political office, turns traitor and leads an invading army of Rome’s enemies to the city’s gates. (My email interview with the Jacobsens did not touch on the play.) Coriolan(us)’s mother prevails on him to back off; he is murdered in Shakespeare, commits suicide in von Collin.
That Overture is a series of peaks and valleys of musical intensity, “Telling the story of love between son and mother, and the painful death of a Roman general,” emailed Eric Jacobsen.
The Violin Concerto is grand yet sublime, and simultaneously the very definition of musical power, one of those compositions where once you hear each note or chord, you know that it is totally right: the only sound that belongs right there. It’s a full partnership of soloist with orchestra that’s also a showpiece of violin virtuosity and spellbinding subtlety. (Was one passage near the end of the 1st Movement mined by Sir Arthur Sullivan for “St. Gertrude,” his tune for “Onward Christian Soldiers”?)
From its subtle beginning Beethoven’s 4th Symphony streaks off into exalting music that could only be his, climbing grand mountains of sound. Beethoven’s power–again melded to his finesse–is absolutely riveting. He’s truly the king of musical climaxes. The only physical analogue for this combination of power, beauty and grace is a great male ballet dancer–a Nureyev or Baryshnikov.
Here’s more of what the Brothers Jacobsen had to say by email:
VEER: Why celebrate Beethoven?
COLIN: “Beethoven’s work … speaks…to a wide swath of the human experience (console, agitate, elevate, celebrate)… [it] engages the head, heart and spirit….few composers can bring you to such a low point dramatically, and then lift you back up as well as Beethoven…He uses the simplest of means to build large musical structures in the most noble of ways.”
VEER: Why these pieces?
COLIN: “Beethoven subverts the normal idea of what a concerto [was] supposed to be in his time: a virtuoso showpiece to showcase an instrumentalist’s “shredding” power (to borrow a term). In his Violin Concerto, the music sets out Beethoven’s idealized version of a leader who truly listens, who is aware that they soar only because of the strength of those around them, who inspires and lifts up those around them…often the violin is just decorating and elaborating upon what the orchestra is playing. You hear it in the grand and lengthy tuttis [passages for the ensemble]. You hear it in the dialogue between the solo violin part and orchestra.”
ERIC: “Beethoven’s genius in so many styles in which he composed is shown so beautifully here – the Violin concerto is the lyrical…the heroic journey. The lyrical violin solo line, the purity and simplicity of the winds and their chorale, and the heroism of the soloist particularly featured in the third movement…slightly contrast to the mother-nature style of writing in the 4th Symphony, which celebrates the subtle but powerful changes of colors and shading which eventually would lead to Beethoven’s 6th Symphony. The Overture is programmatic, descriptive, and dramatic!”
VEER: What would you say about these concerts to prospective audience members who are not familiar with Beethoven’s works, to those who only know his greatest hits, and to the experienced concert goer?
ERIC: “Beethoven had many sides to him and his music writing – it is one of the many aspects that set him apart from other composers. This concert features a bit of three different styles he has, so I think it gives a good overview to both newcomers and experienced concert goers.”
“As for any music that I get to work with, I think it is always best to know a little bit of it before you listen. So, on the way to the concert, turn on some Beethoven to become familiar with it! But, you’ll also find at the same time, the surprise of the music is what makes it so special. Especially in Beethoven, which is full of twists and turns. Although I’ve worked on these pieces extensively, there are always more surprises every time we perform them, which really makes it exhilarating!”
WANT TO GO?
Beethoven Celebration with Eric and Colin Jacobsen
Presented by Virginia Symphony Orchestra
Eric Jacobsen, conductor
Colin Jacoben, violin
11:00 a.m., Fri., Sept. 20: Coffee Concert, Chrysler Hall, Norfolk
Ludwig van Beethoven: Coriolan Overture
Ludwig van Beethoven: Violin Concerto, Movement III. Rondo. Allegro
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 4,Movement I. Adagio – Allegro
7:30 p.m., Fri., Sept. 20. Chrysler Hall, Norfolk
7:30 p.m., Sat., Sept. 21, Ferguson Center for the Arts, Newport News
Ludwig van Beethoven: Coriolan Overture
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 4
Ludwig van Beethoven: Violin Concerto
