Beethoven in Vienna: Beethoven Benefit Concert of 22 November 1808
One of a series of three recreated concerts

Beethoven: Symphony No.6 in F Op.68 'Pastoral'; Ah! perfido Op.65; Mass in C Op.86: Gloria; Piano concerto No.4 in G Op.58; Symphony No.5 in C minor Op.67; Mass in C Op.86: Sanctus and Benedictus; Choral fantasia in C minor Op.80

Performers Janice Watson (soprano); Jane Irwin (mezzo soprano); Toby Spence (tenor); Neal Davies (baritone); François-Frédéric Guy (piano); Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Edwin Paling (leader); Günther Herbig (conductor); Edinburgh Festival Chorus, David Jones (chorus master); Chorus soloists: Dorothy Fairweather (soprano); David Hewitson (tenor) - Choral fantasia
Venue Usher Hall
Address Lothian Road Edinburgh
Reviewer Pat Napier

By far the most demanding of the three recreated composer/conductor concerts in the 2001 Festival has to be Beethoven in Vienna, the Benefit Concert of 22 November 1808 (St Cecilia's Day) in the Theater an der Wien. This was a monster of a programme and included two of the most famous and best-loved symphonies known today. Not only did Beethoven compose and conduct, he was also the major soloist in a concert devoted entirely to his own music. The Usher Hall concert presented three and a half hours of music with two intervals and also started at 6:30pm. However, a recreation can only recreate the music, it cannot recreate the performance. Thank goodness!

Günther Herbig

Beethoven, that prickly genius and titan of music, perennially short of money, too irascible to endure a steady job, his deafness advancing at a
frightening rate and trying to exist on commissions desperately needed the income a Benefit Concert would bring him. No doubt, his sacking from his composer's post at this same theatre four years before still rankled. Nevertheless, he made superhuman efforts to give value for money by including the world premieres of his 5th and 6th symphonies. The account of the concert tells of a catalogue of disasters which would have ruined a lesser composer. Beethoven's temperament must have been stretched to the limit of the proverbial piano wire from an explosive mix of anxiety, excitement, fear that he wouln't perform well and fear that the musicians, with whom he'd already fallen out in rehearsal, wouldn't perform at all. Things were not helped by the concert starting at 6:30pm - four hours late in bitterly cold weather!

The Usher Hall had neither of these disadvantages. It also had a capacity audience, for whom the music was a much-loved entity, the 'home team' of musicians and chorus, a vastly experienced conductor who also clearly loved the music and who had a special rapport with his musicians and outstanding soloists - the last being something Beethoven did not have to support him. So 6:30pm on 25 August 2001 began in the most different way possible from the original it was recreating.

As a dyed-in-the-wool Beethoven fan, this reviewer has to confess to a certain amount of bias but even to my eyes and ears, this concert was a smash hit success. The bows at the end (I lost count after five), the thunderous and prolonged applause, the sighs of bliss at particularly beautifu,l delicate musical passages all spelt out that it was a very special experience for this knowledgeable audience.

François-Frédéric Guy

François-Frédéric Guy, our present day Beethoven, played the fourth piano concerto to perfection. He had the most gentle, delicate, caressing touch which made the piano sing at all the right times, while also producing the passion and tension as needed. From Beethoven's innovative introductory shimmering piano solo we knew we were in for a treat and the rave reception it got at the end proved that, as did the Choral fantasia's. The two excerpts from the Mass in C were glorious, with Jane Irwin's rich, creamy mezzo making a very warm glow. But it is unfair to pick one voice out. All were memorable, with the Festival Chorus soaring to the occasion and giving us two extra soloists from their ranks. And when they all came together for the final Hosanna in excelsis, it was another magic moment. Applause and more applause was the order of the day.

Even the humble furniture mover was applauded - more than once - as he whizzed around moving seats and music stands to accomodate the expanding and contracting orchestra size. Ever a showman, he rose to the occasion and acknowledged his applause with wide smiles, bows and waves. We all left for home in the best possible mood, again in direct contrast to Beethoven's frozen cold, perplexed audience and hostile musicians. How St Cecilia must have wept. I'm glad I was at the Usher Hall rather than the Theater an der Wien!

© Pat Napier. 26 August 2001

The entire concert is being broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on 17 September 2001 and at some future (as yet unknown) time on the BBC Knowledge Channel.