An Evening of Beethoven

An Evening of Beethoven

Utah Symphony

September 11, 2009

Abravanel Hall

Matthias Bamert, Conductor

Jennifer Frautschi, Violin

The evening started out like any other with the Utah Symphony. Ralph Matson (the concertmaster) walks out. The orchestra "tunes." Then the conductor comes out (not the closet, from backstage. Jeesh people!) The orchestra stands. The maestro steps up to the podium to begin and instead of having sat down like usual, the orchestra (with the exception of the celli and bassi) stayed standing. I was thinking, "okay, this must be some type of 'visual effect' for the 'Overture to The Creatures of Prometheus, op.43' that Maestro Bamert decided on." Than they began to play a familiar tune. (I can't hum it for you here, so I'll just give you the words. Boring, I know.) "Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light?" The audience stood (I would hope so.) Some in the audience sang. Followed by thunderous applause. (Okay, maybe not thunderous, but you get the idea.)

The Overture was next. Having never heard it before, it sounded awfully familiar. (Unfortunately, my lack of knowledge of proper terminology while doing reviews of this sort is extremely limited; so suffice it to say, I enjoyed it.) Maestro Bamert left the stage. Assistants came in and moved the 1st violins around. (They had to make way for the violin soloist.)

The Concerto for Violin in D Major, op. 61 was incredible. (It lasted roughly 45 minutes. That's a lot of music.) There are three movements. I. Allegro ma non troppo II. Larghetto III. Finale: Rondo. The first (at first) seemed to drag a little, but then I got into it. (Then the audience applauded after the first movement. Cretins! (Of course I say that with love.) (Honestly, I have no idea why it's considered taboo to applaud between movements. I just know it is, so I don't.) Ms. Frautschi played gracefully. She moved her body (slightly) with the music. Which I didn't find distracting. Sometimes people will wear sequins and THAN move to the music. The lights catch all of the sequins and well, instant migraine. That didn't happen last night. (Thank goodness.) The Larghetto segued into the Finale: Rondo. The high notes echoed through the hall. The trills were exquisite. In response to the audiences applause, Ms. Frautschi came out for FOUR CURTAIN CALLS. (Pardon my ignorance, but I'm not entirely sure what the proper phrase for concerts such as this is. Maybe I'm just involved in theatre too much. I don't know.)

And now, the moment we've all been waiting for...Dun Dun Dun Duuuuuuuuhn! The most famous four-note motif in all of classicdom. (Yes, that IS a word. Well, it is now anyway.) This has always been one of my favorite works. In fact, this is the first symphony (that I remember) ever heard. I was a student at Centennial Elementary School in Nampa, Idaho. The music teacher introduced us to Beethoven. We watched a movie. The title of it was/is (if memory serves. It doesn't always.) Beethoven Lived Upstairs. Well, something like that. I decided I wanted to be just like Beethoven. Well, except for the "dirty old man" thing. All I had ever heard was the first movement. It's the most popular. It would be at Boise State University about 15 years later before I heard the rest of the symphony. At 7:30 in the morning. (That's an awful time for a class by the way.)

The violins play quietly at the end of the third movement, than it "breaks forth triumphantly" as the fourth movement begins. There is no pause between these movements. (I'm sensing a theme...)

The entire evening was great. The fifth is still among my favorite symphonies.