BEETHOVEN EMPEROR CONCERTO

There is something magical and awe-inspiring about great classical music. This afternoon I was treated to the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) conducted by Neemi Jarvi who played in the great Orchestra Hall.

The featured piece was Beethoven's Emperor Concerto (#5) in E-flat major. The pianist was a young blonde lad I had never seen before, Per Tengstrand, who sat down at the Steinway and ran his fingers over the ivories.

I've listened to this concerto many times before since my teenage years and know this piece is called a 'war-horse.' They call it that because it's a monumental piece and it's enduringly popular. The Emperor is played a lot and there are innumerable recordings of it, by the greats of pianistic lore. Each performance is a little different, providing a fresh interpretation, revealing the endless depths and facets of a great piece of music.

This time it was a Sunday afternoon matinée and I looked forward to hearing it again, after the overture to Oberon by Carl Maria von Weber. I had a good look at the keyboard and the pianist's fingers flying over the keys and could not help but wonder what went into the enigmatic and magical phenomenon by which these notes stimulated both my intellect and my emotions.

There is something about Beethoven. Hundreds of years ago, this man actually composed the piece by writing down the notes on a piece of paper. There were hundreds of thousands of notes and the orchestra, over a hundred strong, provided millions of notes. The piece took 45 minutes to play, during which time I listened in rapt attention and tried to understand my musical experience.

It was impossible; it was too complex. I could say that Beethoven's notes had something special, the power to create profound emotions. I could hear power and strength, I could hear majesty, courage, honor, integrity. But how? I could hear tenderness and delicacy, intimacy and love. But the notes were just dots on a page, written hundreds of years ago by an irascible and anguished deaf man! What inspired him?

What is it about these notes that they are published and printed over and over, again and again, generation after generation? Musicians and audiences come together time and time again to experience something special, something different for each person? I experienced a miracle of sorts and a thousand Detroiters came and listened in silence and then stood up and applauded the young man, the aging conductor and the hundred assorted musicians--- strings, woodwinds, brasses and percussionists.

It's hard to explain, impossible to understand, but Beethoven is immortal and classical music will live forever, as long as there is a civilization. What a piece of work is man!