An Evening with Schumann, Beethoven and the National Arts Centre Orchestra

March 19th 2014 was an evening of Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A Minor, op. 54 and Ludwig van Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony at Ottawa's very own National Arts Centre performed by the venue's house orchestra, the NACO. Almost every seat in the cavernous concert hall was occupied as the audience eagerly awaited the conductor's appearance. The orchestra waited patiently. Clapping began with a trickle and became a flood as the hall erupted with applause to the conductor striding into view with a smile on his face. After bowing and greeting the principal violinist, he took his place at the stand and cued the orchestra. The music had begun.

According to Naxos Music Library, after marrying Clara in 1840, Schumann found in her the encouragement to take on larger instrumental works. A large portion of Robert's music before his marriage to Clara consisted of small form piano music but that was to change. With her support, he would later compose his first symphony, his Overture, Scherzo, and Finale for orchestra and finally his Piano Concerto in A Minor. Interestingly, Schumann had originally composed the piece as a shorter Fantasie in A Minor for piano and orchestra which Clara would rehearse with the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig. However the piece yielded no attention from publishers during that time. In 1845, Schumann composed a second and third movement for the piece--Intermezzo and Finale--to complete it as a concerto, becoming what it is today. The piece became part of Clara's repertoire and she would go on to even perform it in concert. The encouragement and support of Robert's wife must have been integral to his progress in completing larger scale works, and to have her perform them was a healthy incentive.

Schumann's Piano Concerto in A Minor, op. 54 opens rather boldly with a brief but strong pairing of strings and timpani, the piano solo following shortly after. It descends quickly, hammering down the keyboard and plunges into a perfect cadence with the full orchestra. Lingering through the thick texture is the first note of the principal theme in woodwinds that Schumann will state for piano and even quote in a major setting later. Upon listening to the first movement, the music does lend the impression that it indeed may have been first conceived as a fantasie or fantasia as the music could suggest improvisation with no deliberate, concrete structure (as is what Schumann intended to express, given the initial title Fantasie—a composition freely inspired and unbound in form), simply because some of the material seems to be developmental passages and entirely new ideas that come and go until the primary theme is repeated. The second movement, Intermezzo, is a shorter, charming movement resembling that of his short-form piano works during the 1830s that he had become so skilled at composing, and the Finale movement or “Allegro vivace” is an exciting, fast-paced work full of flourish and feeling.

The final piece of the evening was a wonderfully executed performance of Beethoven's Eroica Symphony. Oxford Music Online reads that Beethoven composed this piece as a tribute to Napoleon Bonaparte, originally titled Symphony No. 3. But when Bonaparte established the French empire in 1804 and crowned himself emperor, a betrayed Beethoven changed the title to Sinfonia Eroica ("Heroic Symphony") and dedicated it to Prince Franz Joseph van Lobkowitz.

The first minute or so of the opening movement “Allegro con brio” captures the audience's attention with two mighty chords which, on their own, define the spirit of this heroic symphony, at the very least setting the tone for this movement. The cellos come gliding in with the principal theme eventually being taken over by woodwinds. Beethoven does not disappoint in captivating the listener using an extravagant development culminating in a satisfying fulfillment of the principal theme once more. The composer’s volcanic, explosive personality blows holes in his music at times and the Eroica symphony is certainly no exception: during one passage, a lowly French horn begins to state the principal theme and is bulldozed by an explosion of full orchestra interjecting a different musical idea entirely, robbing the poor French horn of its humble moment. Next, A somber second movement, “Marcia funebre”, opens with a murmur as the contrabasses play brief, quiet bursts of a recurring chromatic phrase while violins begin the deathly melody of the march. This movement is a solemn statement that darkly contrasts the otherwise valorous tone of the epic work. Lastly, the Finale of the Eroica Symphony is what one would hope for in such a valiantly named symphony bearing a high-energy, triumphant theme which, according to Naxos Music Library and Oxford Music Online, is a theme from the ballet titled Prometheus (1801) but varied to many degrees before the movement comes to its mighty and victorious end.

The evening’s flawless performances of Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A Minor, op. 54 and Ludwig van Beethoven's Eroica Symphony did not fail to enthral up to their very last, cadential notes. Eroica was worth the evening's attendance alone, so much that the roaring standing ovation upon its completion could have solely been for that great work and its marvellous vessel the National Arts Centre Orchestra.

Works cited:

"Eroica Symphony." Oxford Music Online. N.p., n.d. Web.
<http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.proxy.library.carleton.ca/subscriber/article/opr/t114/e2312?q=eroica+symphony&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1>.
"Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 54." Naxos Music Library. N.p., n.d. Web.
<http://carleton.naxosmusiclibrary.com.proxy.library.carleton.ca/work.asp?wid=108008&cid=290685>.
"Symphony No. 3 in E Flat Major, Op. 55, "Eroica"." Naxos Music Library. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2014. <http://carleton.naxosmusiclibrary.com.proxy.library.carleton.ca/work.asp?  wid=1478&cid=8.111303>.