By any measure, the Colorado Music Festival’s series, “Beethoven Rocks!” has been a big success.
All five concerts in Boulder’s 1,300- seat Chautauqua Auditorium have been sold out or nearly sold out, including the capacity crowd expected for today’s 7:30 finale with the composer’s celebrated Symphony No. 9.
More important, there has been no drop-off in the level of playing from the festival orchestra’s sparkling performance of the Symphony No. 6 during the series’ July 6 opening concert.
While certainly a clever marketing gambit, the idea of presenting all nine of Beethoven’s symphonies in an eight-day span was an artistic gamble, given the sizable amount of preparation these works require.
But as Friday’s double bill made clear, music director Michael Christie and the Festival Orchestra, composed of musicians from large and small orchestras across North America, have managed to pull it off with aplomb.
Rather than follow a strict chronological order, Christie has done a good job of pairing complementary symphonies of contrasting lengths, moods and approaches.
That was certainly true with Friday’s program, which offset the less familiar, carefree Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 36, with the shorter, more intense Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67 — arguably the most oft-played work in the form ever.
The musicians were undeterred by the sultry heat in the unairconditioned, barn-like auditorium, maintaining their focus and high energy and doing their usual fine job of listening to one another and playing as one unified ensemble.
The orchestra offered an aptly sunny, fluid take on the Symphony No. 2, with a commendably up-tempo, playful take on the concluding movement with its witty, kind of snap- and-turn motif.
But the center of attention, of course, was the Symphony No. 5. Christie brought suitable punch to the first movement, paying equal attention to the repetitions of the famed four-note hammer motif and the less flamboyant yet still integral passages in between.
He kept a suitable amount of power in reserve and turned it loose for an exciting take on the surging, upbeat final movement.
Kyle MacMillan: 303-954-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com
