An unceasing innovator, Beethoven was never content to conform to expected norms of musical composition. He led the vanguard of new music. Driven obsessively by his compelling artistic vision and his belief that creativity is the highest aspiration of mankind, Beethoven sought an all-embracing musical continuum. His ever-expanding concepts of musical perception, perhaps partially engendered by his deafness, enabled him to pursue his Inner Ear unencumbered by pre-conceived limitations of the possible.
Beethoven’s music burst upon the musical world, changing it forevermore. His 32 piano sonatas, the earliest of which he wrote as vehicles for himself as both composer and pianist, were his most immediate and intimate crucible of musical experimentation. He forced forward demands placed upon pianists, upon pianos themselves, and upon listeners. His 16 string quartets often took these experiments of musical perception to further new levels, which in turn were further refined in his nine symphonies.
"Much of Beethoven’s music was revolutionary. It can sound new and innovative today if we immerse ourselves in understanding how his music was created and why, and then play his works as if the ink is barely dry on the pages. That is what we will do."
–&Բ;Dr Robert Taub.
With support from Fidelio Charitable Trust.
