An inspired and innovative presentation of Ludwig van Beethoven’s majestic, cage-rattling “Eroica” symphony at Boulder’s Macky Auditorium on Saturday stands apart as one of the region’s finest musical performances this season.
With English violinist Andrew Manze at the helm of the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra — Manze in the dual role of conductor and erudite raconteur — this extraordinary CU Concerts Artist Series program played out before a full, engaged audience that was in tune with the influence and impact of Beethoven’s compositional genius.
To contextualize the “Eroica Effect,” Manze and the first-rate Scandinavian ensemble spent the first half of the program introducing the dance culture of Beethoven’s Vienna in the late 1700s, including samples of the most popular music of the day — from the sweet, joyful strains of Mozart’s musically elegant oeuvres to Haydn’s masterfully atmospheric oratorio, “The Creation.” Manze further delivered through his keen commentary and delightfully unassuming charm a sense of Beethoven’s pronounced patriotism and affinity for the common man, as demonstrated in his Contredances and battle songs.
Manze even went so far as to frame the immediate impact of the “Eroica” with a taste of the ensuing music of Joseph Eybler — a gifted, if overlooked, composer who couldn’t wait to employ the harmonic dissonances and other compositional twists on tradition boldly introduced by his friend Beethoven.
What followed these insights after intermission was a riveting reading of the “Eroica” (the work’s intended dedication to Napoleon was retracted in Beethoven’s rage at the news that the Corsican had crowned himself emperor).
Manze and the orchestra fearlessly probed the vast, demanding and often jarring work with commitment, resolute energy and — above all — a deep understanding and admiration for its unusual melodic, harmonic and rhythmic connections.
Not only did Manze illuminate in word and performance Beethoven’s revolutionary, expansive expression of the full range of human emotions, but he also revealed Beethoven’s groundbreaking psychological shift from the then-commonplace perception of composers and musicians as servants of their audience to an ambience of equal and mutual participation among performers and listeners to achieve the most satisfying musical experience.
And it was just such an encounter that Manze and the Helsingborg Symphony both enabled and ennobled in their exceptional articulation of Beethoven’s inventiveness that bridges grief, solace and humor — not to mention his shocking, dramatic effects that find resolution and triumphant liberation in the work’s Presto coda.
The Artist Series concludes Saturday with ODC Dance.
