Marcela Fiorillo. Bangkok Symphony Orchestra Foundation
If the “Beethoven Gala” on Aug 11 proves nothing else, it will show that there was never “one” Beethoven. The scowling, misanthropic personality, the irresponsible debtor running from countless irate Viennese landlords was also the man who created his own universe of emotional and arousing music.
It was a universe in which Charles Olivieri-Munroe has shared and will share again with the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra.
“First,” he jokes, “Beethoven was actually from Canada. Uh…actually, it was Beethoven’s great-nephew who moved to Toronto. But I’m certain Ludwig would have been a much nicer person if he grew up in my hometown.
“Second, more seriously, I was chief conductor in Teplice, where Beethoven wrote several of his symphonies. Even slept in his room…and was even woken up every few hours by a ghostly four-note knocking.”
That probably wasn’t “Fate”, it was the water-pipe.
The conductor has already played those notes here with the Fifth. But in August, he will be tackling the Third Symphony, rightly called the “Heroic”. For Beethoven was, in the 19th century sense, a man of politics. Not our day-to-day rabble-rousing politics, but the profound politics of great men and those who make and are part of history. The composer might have avoided individuals, but he wrote his most feeling music when praising the dignity, the stature, the innate freedom of mankind — as well as those who tried to destroy that dignity.
That will climax a night with two other works, Consecration Of The House overture and the Fourth Piano Concerto (this writer’s favourite), showing the romantic whispering Beethoven, with a second movement inspired by Greek myth.
A sketch of Neo-classical composer Ludwig Van Beethoven. Photo: AP
The centrepiece of this concert, Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto, will be played by Marcela Fiorillo, the young Argentine pianist who is reckoned as one of the more dazzling pianists of our day.
True, she is known as a proponent of her countryman Astor Piazzolla. But this is only the beginning. In Australia, Ms Fiorillo was described as having “a consummate pianism of breathtaking technical assurance and deep expressive power”. A composer of note, she was commissioned to write a work for Australia, and has appeared there many times. So many times, in fact, that she has made Canberra her home, as performing teaching fellow.
She has also performed in New York, Washington and Bloomington in USA, and has given masterclasses and lectures at New York University, Queens College, City University of New York, and BID Cultural Centre Washington. In Europe, she has toured in Italy and France. In China, Fiorillo performed with the Shanghai Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra and gave masterclasses at the Shanghai and Beijing Conservatories of Music.
Her recordings include much music from South America and Spain, so one must ask whether an Argentine pianist with all her visual velocity can tackle the Teutonic genius of Beethoven.
Think of it this way. The Fourth Concerto is perhaps the most picturesque of Beethoven’s concerti. The opening — whose theme was composed simultaneously with Beethoven’s Fifth “fate” motive — is gentle, almost whispering, contrasting with the vivacious dance of the finale.
But Beethoven’s Second Movement is probably — not certainly but most likely — based on the Greek legend of Orpheus taming the wild beasts. In fact, no other image can possibly come to mind.
Charles Olivieri-Munroe. Bangkok Symphony Orchestra Foundation
The Bangkok Symphony Orchestra conductor is Charles Olivieri-Munroe, presently artistic director & principal conductor of the Krakow Philharmonic Orchestra. He is concurrently chief conductor with Philharmonie Südwestfalen in Germany and holds the position of honorary chief conductor with the North Czech Philharmonic Orchestra with whom he has been associated since 1997.
From his home in Prague, his career takes him across five continents, appearing with many of the world’s finest orchestras which have included the Israel Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Munich Symphony Orchestra, Danish Radio Symphony, Budapest Symphony, and of course the Bangkok Symphony.
“I approach the Third Symphony“, he told us, “from a purist angle. In fact, as a conductor one can do a lot worse than by simply conducting at the prescribed speed.
“My passion is to seek out a lean, transparent sound no matter how large the orchestra. My first experience here, conducting the Fifth truly impressive, and I believe this ensemble can respond with the Third, offering the audience the appropriate character.”
The opening is a relatively rare work of Beethoven, the overture for inaugurating a remodelled Viennese theatre in 1821, the overture to Consecration Of The House. Obviously the composer felt not only the gravity of the situation, but the knowledge that it was originally built in the time of Handel, including a Handelian fugue.
“Presenting this,” says the Maestro. “Reflects my modus operandi of combining in programme familiar works with those which are lesser known. But what a delightful opener it is!”.
Delight is a word rarely used with Beethoven. But here it will be combined with the dramatic and the lyrical. All examples from a man who was never petty, never insignificant. And certainly never ever humble.
As he wrote to one of his royal benefactors — a man to whom others bowed and paid homage — Beethoven wrote disdainfully.
“You are a Prince by accident of birth. There are and will be thousands of Princes. But there is only one Beethoven.”
Obviously, those who met the composer in his day — and conductors who conduct him in our day — have unparalleled challenges to meet.
This source first appeared on Bangkok Post Lifestyle.