Beethoven Concert Shows Why the Greats are Great

(first published in The Cincinnati Post Nov. 23, 1991)

You can carp all you want about classical music's oft-played "canon," but it does help pay the rent.

The Cincinnati Symphony's all-Beethoven concert Friday night at Music Hall drew its largest crowd of the season, 2,420, with 2,767 tickets already sold for tonight's repeat.

Adding to Beethoven's box office brawn was the star power of violinist Pinchas Zukerman, soloist in the Beethoven Concerto.

The concert was a pleasant reminder that the "great works" are called great for good reason. All it takes is a performance of Beethoven's "Eroica" Symphony - among the greatest products of western musical art - to know that.

It is especially apparent in a performance that was as committed and exciting as the CSO's under its principal guest conductor Ivan Fischer. (With the demise of music education in the nation's schools, there's an increasing number of people who have never even heard the symphony).

Zukerman, who began a two-week residency with the CSO last weekend by conducting and performing a sterling all-Schubert program, focused his energies on the fiddle, wielding it with authority and power.

His Beethoven had muscle - so much so that he lit into his violin a bit overmuch at times. (Give that man a viola!) But when he was subtle, he was sublime, as in the sweet, spun-out lyricism of the second movement.

Zukerman seemed to particularly enjoy the finale, giving a schmaltzy kick to certain phrases. (Delightful!)

The brightness of his delivery was such that even among great volleys of notes, each one projected clearly above the orchestra.

Cadenzas were similarly daunting, making for a genuinely pleasurable performance, which earned Zukerman a standing ovation. But for the audience, alas, no encore.

Fischer, conducting the first of four concert pairs with the CSO this year, let no energies flag in the "Eroica."

From the powerful opening gestures to the riveting intensity of the funeral march, he laid out its grand lines and inexorable musical logic, leaning deliciously on the biting dissonances.

Especially winning was the finale with its boisterous episodes and joyous summation.

Opening the concert was the "King Stephan" Overture, a minor but ingratiating work that sounded as if it needed more rehearsal.

Concert review - CINCINNATI SYMPHONY. Friday night, Music Hall. Ivan Fischer, principal guest conductor. Pinchas Zukerman, violin. PROGRAM: All- Beethoven. "King Stephan" Overture. Violin Concerto in D Major. Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major ("Eroica"). Attendance: 2,420. Repeat: Tonight, 8:30, Music Hall. Tickets: $8.50-$43.50 (381-3300).