By Dave Read, Lenox, MA, August 4, 2024 performance – The same composer featured on today’s program in the Koussevitsky Music Shed at Tanglewood also dominates the program that will conclude the season in three weeks, Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827). That’s quite an accomplishment for someone who only published nine symphonies. While Tanglewood marks the end of the season with the beloved Symphony No. 9, today’s program included the least performed and most complained about of the 712 pieces he composed that were not symphonies.
Beethoven composed the rarely performed Concerto in C, for piano, violin, and cello, Opus 54 not for the joy of musical composition alone, but so that his patron (and piano student) would have a piece he was able to play. The addition of two more solo parts balanced the work by the relative complexity of the violin and cello parts. Today, the cello part of the triple concerto is considered to be the most difficult in the repertoire. Steven Isserlis was the cello soloist, with Joshua Bell on violin and Kirill Gerstein on piano, with Alan Gilbert conducting the BSO.
After intermission, on a sunny afternoon that followed a thunderstormy morning, was Symphony No. 4 in B-flat, Opus 60. Would that the weather didn’t so limit the audience, because if place/ambience play a part in the enjoyment of music, then Tanglewood is tailor-made for the presentation of Beethoven, no matter how good he sounds elsewhere.