The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and their chief conductor Jaime Martín opened the cycle of the nine symphonies by Beethoven at Hamer Hall on Tuesday night. It was a delight to hear the orchestra and Martín’s interpretation of symphonies one and three (Eroica) performed with such well-considered tempos, spontaneous rubato and exquisite balance between lyricism and virtuosity. The MSO and Martín’s Beethoven cycle promises to be a landmark event that Melbourne will soon be proud of.
Programming these two symphonies gave the audience a marvellous opportunity, in one concert, to compare and contrast Beethoven’s developing styles and a hint into the processes he used as a basis for composing, i.e., having a picture in his mind to which he composed and following the detail of its lines. Beethoven uses the finale theme from his ballet The Creatures of Prometheus in the finale of symphony number three. While the first symphony has no overt reference to what it may signify, it contains a clear harmonic structure related to Beethoven’s Prometheus Overture. Thus material from The Creatures of Prometheus is used in both symphonies. The character Prometheus represents struggle, knowledge, benevolence, and heroism, which are all traits Beethoven admired and strove to live by.
Jaime Martín and Beethoven share a Spanish heritage, the composer’s maternal grandmother is thought to have been a Spaniard, and Beethoven’s swarthy complexion and black hair earned him the sobriquet The Spaniard.
There was palpable rapport between Martín and the orchestra. They meticulously followed with ease his changing metrical beat, particularly noticeable in the second subject of the first movement of the symphony number one and in the first movement of the Eroica. All his gestures were always meaningful and immediately acted upon by the orchestra.
The Adagio introduction in the first movement of symphony number one was played with fantasy-like lyricism. The rapid dialoguing between woodwind and strings in the ensuing Allegro was indeed captivating and led to the development section’s climax that pivots over 14 bars on the note E. This compositional design becomes a feature in his later works in C major, particularly noteworthy are the second subject in the Waldstein sonata and Kyrie of the Mass in C.
An elegant cantabile pervaded the second movement. The finely balanced tempo of the third movement – Menuetto – permitted the slurring and tenuto characteristics of the classical menuetto dance to be perceived without impeding its driving energy. The players clearly delighted in the wit and surprise in the contrapuntal interplay and sforzando outbursts in the final movement.
The two opening resolute chords and the opening phrases of the Eroica Symphony’s first movement were incredibly exciting, but some may consider the tempo a little too fast and the style too dance-like. Although the opening was a little unstable it nevertheless increased the feeling of struggle. Beethoven appears to focus on the use of rhythm to portray struggle in this movement through the frequent use of accented hemiola rhythms, which effectively destabilizes the triple time beat giving the impression of duple time, and in sudden rhythmic variants like the horn’s false entry of the principal theme, which enters four bars before the orchestra plays the theme – this disrupts the theme’s anticipated natural rhythmic flow.
The rhythmic momentum of the Eroica’s first movement is created through continuously evolving offbeat motives, fugal passages with syncopated accents, surging counterpoints to the main themes, and the themes performed simultaneously in the original and in inverted forms.
This momentum was thrillingly captured by unrelenting energetic playing until the development reached its climax and ushered-in the ground-breaking new lyrical theme in the development. The new theme highlights Beethoven’s departure from the classical symphonic style in which new themes are introduced but only in the exposition.
Throughout the movement’s fleeting dialogues, woodwind solos were never overshadowed by high-registered violin writing. The resolute sequential descent falling a minor third through E flat – D flat – C that announces the novel extended coda generated the richest orchestral sonorities of the evening’s performance.
In a thought-provoking talk on the Internet, Martín discusses Beethoven’s sketches for the theme of the Funeral March second movement, drawing attention to Beethoven experimenting with the answering phrase of the theme before deciding on its final version. In performance, Martín demonstrated this by drawing out the theme’s answering phrases with deliberate intensity dwelling on each vibrant shift in chromatic harmony. Orchestra and conductor revealed a particular empathy with the Funeral March movement; they exquisitely captured the movement’s solemnity, poignancy and sense of reminiscence. Beethoven’s enraged-removal of the symphony’s dedication to Napoleon is well documented, but on the score’s title page he described the symphony as “composed to celebrate the remembrance of a great man”, and this aspect of commemoration came to the fore in Tuesday’s performance of the Funeral March, especially in the affecting C major episodes where woodwind melodic lines soared with penetrating pathos.
The abrupt change from the Funeral March to the third movement Scherzo baffles many scholars and listeners, but Martín’s unusually subdued opening to the Scherzo allowed for a gradual transformation in mood between these movements. And with assertive confidence the horns then swelled fearlessly through Beethoven’s unforgiving high-register writing in the Scherzo’s Trio section.
After a stirring flourish to the final movement, Martín refreshingly stressed the lyrical aspects of the two variations on the Prometheus theme’s bass line. This sensitive approach was followed through into the fugal variations, but he savoured the bombastic Turkish March variation while drawing out its foot-stomping rustic character. There were many outstanding poetic discourses in the Andante variation with its measured reminiscence to the Funeral March’s fervour; this precipitated the orchestra’s charge through the final Presto, rising climatically to a glorious sonority that resounded through the hall in triumphant heroic splendour.
Martín displayed profound insight in interpreting Beethoven’s music, and the MSO demonstrated a oneness with him, following with canny accuracy every subtle gesture their Maestro made, resulting in a truly magnificent performance of Beethoven’s symphonies one and three.
Photo credit: Laura Manariti
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Anthony Halliday reviewed “Beethoven Festival: Symphonies 1 and 3”, presented and performed by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at Arts Centre Melbourne, Hamer Hall on November 19, 2024.
