I am very excited to perform with the wonderful Pennsylvania Centre Orchestra and Yaniv Attar this Sunday, collaborating on one of my favorite works of all.
The Beethoven concerto has always been in my mind one of, if not the most sublime work, certainly for the violin, and perhaps at all. It speaks to me of hope and truth and all that's beautiful in the world, not with naiveté, but taking into account all that transpires. When I was a child, I remember my excellent teacher, Dr. Lise Elson, saying that it is a concerto to play after one is thirty; one simply isn't mature enough for it beforehand. Beethoven wrote it when he was thirty-five - now, I'm not sure if I want to betray my age (which is indeed very close to his) but I think I finally feel that I may have enough life-experience to qualify to play it. The form of the piece, as well as the themes and musical lines themselves, are in a way so simple - one could say almost just scales and arpeggios - but how they are varied, orchestrated, put together is so rich and full of meaning - perhaps that is why. Knowing that the concerto was written just a few years after the Heiligenstadt Testament, in which Beethoven contemplates but ultimately rejects suicide, finding meaning in Art, I can add a possible historical meaning to my feeling that the concerto is immensely life-affirming, despite all hardships; reaching joy despite grief and despair.
I am greatly looking forward to share this experience with you.
Yours sincerely,
Claudia
