ERIN’S PICKS: THREE WAYS BEETHOVEN REVOLUTIONIZED MUSIC BY ERIN BURKHOLDER, SECOND VIOLIN
The year 2020 marks Ludwig van Beethoven’s 250th birthday. To celebrate, orchestras all over the world are performing concerts and series honouring his life and work. The Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra brings the festivities to this city by performing, throughout the year, the full cycle of Beethoven’s nine symphonies, as well as all of his piano concertos and some of his other beloved works. Beethoven’s music defies any one descriptor. At one moment it’s monumental and dramatic, the next intimate and heartfelt. It can be cerebral and mysterious, or lighthearted and fun. But one statement can be made in certainty: Beethoven’s music is unlike anything written before or since. Even now, 200 years after his lifetime, we look back at Beethoven as an artist whose creative genius was imaginative, uncompromising, and unprecedented. Here’s why I think Beethoven is a true game-changer.
