Titans

It is told that at the premiere, the soloist didn’t receive the score from the great master Ludwig van Beethoven until barely 48 hours before the baton went down. This might explain why the concert didn’t go too well and why Beethoven’s only violin concerto proceeded to fade into obscurity for quite a while. Our soloist, on the other hand, comes excellently prepared: The US virtuoso Gil Shaham performs this crown jewel which has shaped the history of violin literature like no other. What Beethoven put to paper over the course of just a few weeks was a disruption of the contemporary ideas of form and sound. These three movements contain so much more than the mere athletic bravura expected from soloists. Violin and orchestra embark upon a symphonic journey together, from the enigmatic and electrifying beginning, via the second movement, a lyrical meditation, eventually reaching the energizing finale.
Against this backdrop, it is not surprising that the role model as which Johannes Brahms perceived Beethoven, the radical genius, was an oppressive one, an intimidating monument of eternity. If only it were possible to pat Brahms on the shoulder and call out to him: »Cheer up! You’ve produced a great many gems of your own, legendary ones, which audiences still love!« One example is the way in which the Hamburg born composer indulges in his penchant for Hungarian gypsy melodies, as he does in the final movement of his opus 25, Rondo alla Zingarese. The one and only Arnold Schönberg, whose anniversary we’re celebrating, arranged the deluxe orchestra version of this piano quartet. His very own assessment of this masterpiece: »Unfortunately not mine!«
By the way, the hands that first touched Brahms’s piano quartet belonged to the legendary Hungarian violinist Joseph Joachim – the same Joseph Joachim who, at the young age of twelve and under the direction of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, performed Beethoven’s hitherto neglected violin concerto and reintroduced it to world fame. Now if that’s no coincidence…