VSO Beethoven Festival on the CBC
Miss Mussel is emerging momentarily from the comfort of her Zoloft-induced haze to point you in the direction of the Beethoven Festival happening this week on CBC Radio.
All nine symphonies are being played this week by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and Miss Mussel’s mole at that organization assures her that these readings are not to be missed. The few snippets of Eroica enjoyed in the car this aft confirms that this mole is more than just a pretty face. Who knew playing horn with double-wide vibrato could sound so good and, even more oddly, appropriate? (last mvt for those horn nerds dying to check it out)
North America has a long tradition of poaching winning formulae from the UK (Wife Swap, Pop Idol, What Not To Wear et al) and it appears the CBC (who is as we’ve recently seen is a little short on original ideas grounded in common sense *ahem*) is not shy of doing so either. The Beethoven Experience put on in June of 2005, was a joint project with the absolutely fantastic BBC Philharmonic and Gianandrea Noseda was a wild success. Miss Mussel was in Manchester at the time and was able to take in No. 7 live. It is still the definitive version in her mind…except for maybe Kleiber/VPO.
Concerts are not available for download but will be streamable from the Concerts On Demand page for two weeks after their air date. Here’s the sked if you want to listen on the radio.
In addition to the concerts, the CBC has compiled nine podcasts that will be available for download until 10th April. They’re roughly twenty minutes and are conversations between radio host Bill Richardson and VSO conductor Bramwell Tovey.
(image credits: CBC)
