Beethoven: Violin Concerto

Lingua disponibile: inglese

In addition to the violinist Veronika Eberle’s musical talent, beamed majestically through a 1693 Stradivarius kindly loaned by a German foundation, this new version of Beethoven's Concerto in D major has two principal appeals. The first is the abundance of cadenzas specially written by the composer Jörg Widman, and the second is the trace of the composition Concerto in C major left partially incomplete by Beethoven around 1790.

In the twentieth century very few composers dared to write cadenzas for works that were considered untouchable treasures. This is no longer the case today, where respect for masterpieces no longer entails a moratorium on experimentation. For his highly sophisticated cadenzas, Jörg Widman has obviously distanced himself from Beethoven's melodic, harmonic and rhythmic material in order to avoid inadvertent parody. Instead he speaks own language, even when he uses the timpani as a solo instrument in trademark Beethoven fashion. Two centuries later, this new treatment explores the radically abrupt and insolent side that Beethoven's music could have had at the time. The particularly meticulous accompaniment of the London Symphony Orchestra, led by its conductor Sir Simon Rattle, greatly elevates this new version of a work that has been recorded a thousand times.

As for the short, barely 9 minute, fragment of another violin concerto, it is thrilling to watch its Mozartian character struggle to emancipate itself from the genre’s expectations. This isolated draft, discovered in 1870, tells us nothing about the work, its loss or its eventual completion. Several violinists have attempted to finish it, but that’s not the case here; only the part Beethoven penned himself is played, leaving us bewildered and alone in a beautiful conversation suddenly interrupted. © François Hudry/Qobuz