Created: August 1, 2012 Last Updated: August 2, 2012
Musicologist Rob Kapilow explained what makes Beethoven's String Quartet No. 1 in F major, Op. 18, no. 1 so great at the 2012 Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival. (Pam McLennan/Epoch Times)
As part of the 2012 Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, composer, conductor, and music commentator Robert Kapilow gave a talk on what makes Beethoven?s music great.
Kapilow is an American composer, conductor, and music commentator with an infectious enthusiasm for all things musical.
He devotes most of his summers to writing and composing new music, most recently a large-scale work commissioned to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge, which premiered in June.
NBC?s Katie Couric described Kapilow as ?A wonderful guy who brings music alive,? and that?s what he did for his audience on July 29 at Dominion-Chalmers United Church.
At one stage during his talk about Beethoven, Kapilow paused while the audience listened to the Shanghai Quartet play illustrative phrases from Beethoven?s String Quartet No. 1 in F major, Op. 18, no. 1.
The quartet then played the entire string quartet, followed by a question and answer period.
\>");Kapilow explained the overtly emotional; the dynamic; the ?choppy, choppy bits?; the ?hysterical phrases?; the aggressive and the emotional; the lulls and the unexpected repetitions; and how, at one point, the violin melody ?came from the cello line.?
He urged the audience to really ?hear the melodies.?
To do so with a composer as great as Beethoven must have been something of a challenge, even to a musicologist as scholarly as Kapilow, for to understand the construction of the music might even take something away from the listener who ?hears? with his or her emotions rather than with the mind.
Kapilow is known for his special series, ?What Makes it Great?? available online at Amazon, Wiley, and Barnes and Noble.
The talks are also the first of their kind to be especially designed for the iPad, with embedded music as well as on CDs on the Vanguard Everyman Classical label.
Martha H. Jones, president of the Celebrity Series in Boston, said: ?In my 20 years in this business I have never seen a more innovative musical program help to open minds and change attitudes.?
Beethoven (1770 to 1827) played the piano but had to give up a concert career when his deafness became pronounced. He could still ?hear? the music he composed and some of his most beloved works were created when he was totally deaf.
In his later period, working in total deafness, Beethoven produced his last five string quartets, the Missa Solemnis, and the great Ninth Symphony. He was a master of orchestral form, and many critics believe the Ninth Symphony is the greatest symphony ever composed.
The Chamberfest runs until Aug 9, and Ottawans are lucky indeed to be able to hear all 16 of Beethoven?s string quartets in just two weeks. Tickets may be bought online at www.OttawaChamberfest.com.
Susan Hallett is an award-winning writer and editor who has written for The Beaver, The Globe & Mail, Wine Tidings and Doctor?s Review among many others. Email: hallett_susan@hotmail.com
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