Charles T. Downey, For a breather, NSO turns to Beethoven’s back catalogue
Washington Post, November 5, 2012
 Mozart / Beethoven, Quintets for Piano and Winds, Netherlands Wind Ensemble, Klára Würtz |
Between the two performances of Beethoven’s “Missa Solemnis” on Thursday and Saturday, music director Christoph Eschenbach gave his singers and most of the National Symphony Orchestra a break on Friday night. Instead, nine principal players from the NSO joined Eschenbach for a recital of Beethoven’s chamber music. Such “B-side” concerts inserted between performances of a larger choral work were one of the notable successes of the Kennedy Center’s Music of Prague, Budapest, and Vienna festival last year, and a large audience turned out in the Concert Hall.Principal musicians of the National Symphony Orchestra
The contrast of this program with the “Missa Solemnis” could not have been greater, featuring small pieces of chamber music from Beethoven’s early career instead of the massive religious statement of his final years. These musicians regularly play chamber music with one another, as members of the Kennedy Center Chamber Players, with the addition of the excellent Laurel Bennert Ohlson, who was moved up to acting principal horn this season. [Continue reading]
Christoph Eschenbach, piano
Kennedy Center Concert Hall
ReplyDeleteI recently found a great vd with Beethoven's compositions recorded by Maxim Rysanov, Kristina Blaumane and Jacob Katsnelson at onyxclassics. The music is astonishing! I never liked Beethoven so much before!