On a recent trip to Vienna, having been overwhelmed by all that imperial history and architecture I decided to have a little wander around the backstreets and see what else I might discover. At one point thinking I had come into a cul de sac I looked up and there in an exposed position, on the former town fortifications, was The Pasqualati House. It is on the corner of Mölker Bastei and Schreyvogelgasse and has a small blue plaque attached to the outer wall. It bore the name of Ludwig van Beethoven. He had lived there in 1804-08 and 1810-14, and on the fourth floor, up a stone spiral staircase, there is a modest memorial museum to the composer that includes several facsimiles and illustrations from his life and work. It was here that he wrote his only opera, Fidelio, his Fifth and Sixth Symphonies and the piece that all budding pianists like to include in their repertoire, Für Elise. An unassuming residence and yet his spirit and genius could be felt everywhere with the audio stations giving you the opportunity to hear his music.
On Thursday evening that experience was at the forefront of my mind during the opening bars of Beethoven’s Egmont Overture played by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) (G Live, Guildford). The piece was inspired by a character, Count Egmont, in one of Goethe’s plays. A man who fought the good fight but whose life ended in ignominious execution. The impact on Beethoven was great and he wrote to the playwright explaining how he had been moved by ‘that glorious Egmont in which I have again reflected through you, and which I have reproduced in music as intense as my feelings when I read your play’. And so it is that the Overture immediately introduces the concept of good and evil, with a dramatic and contrasting statement opening that has the powerful brass and string chords set against a plaintive woodwind section that is also a cry from the heart to stay calm and determined while the nefarious forces try to destroy all around them. The following allegro section, which continues the storm-tossed narrative that the composer had intended, full of pathos and beautiful lyricism, is punctuated by strikes of musical lightning, and sets the scene for a startling ending in which he uses the woodwind motif to set up striking moments of illustrative defiance igniting a coruscating and heart-rending coda. The master of symphonic form encapsulated in nine magnificent minutes, played with deeply expressive assurance and beauty by the RPO.
It was followed by Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto, which proved to be his swansong, completed just two months before he died. One can imagine his tears of sadness, and joy, as he wrote it. The joyful melodic motif, initially played by the orchestra and then echoed and embellished by the solo clarinet, like a butterfly fluttering in the wind. That first movement full of musical poetry, one can hear and feel the more sombre and melancholic themes seeping through. The orchestra and soloist moving from playful innocence into a darker, fearful state. The buoyant finale sings a song of frivolity and pleasure and yet beneath that playful façade there is a gravitas which suggests Mozart knew that he was nearing the end. Soloist and RPO Principal Clarinetist Katherine Lacy’s interpretation was technically superb, full of bravura and instrumental coloratura, with her lower range particularly impressive. The orchestral accompaniment too was beautifully balanced and conducted with graceful passion by Kristian Sallinen.
Brahms’ Symphony No. 1 in C Minor completed the programme, described by some as the most stunning symphonic debut in musical history even though he himself was in awe of the master saying ‘I will never write a symphony. You have no idea what it is like to hear a giant [Beethoven] constantly marching behind you.’ Thankfully he did and this majestic work opens with the thunderous timpani and brass section in full cry relentlessly pounding and proclaiming a stormy musical landscape. That volatility, again played and conducted with aplomb and precision, includes the major thematic elements which are used throughout. And then, as though he wanted us to drift dreamily into an altered state, the following two movements are shorter and far more melodic which include exquisite woodwind and string work, full of intimacy and warmth. The Adagio finale sweeps in with a slow, mysterious and brooding introduction that is calmed by a solo French horn, a soaring Alphorn horn call inspired by a Swiss folk melody. What follows in the joyful main theme bears an intentional homage to Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” closing the symphony in a blaze of victory; a princely peroration.
Bravo to orchestra, Lacy and Sallinen who provided a superb start to the Guildford
International Concert Season 2026/27.
G Live (season and tickets) – www.trafalgartickets.com