Beethoven 4
What a strange and mysterious symphony. What captivates me is its use of “negative space.”
It opens in a void. All darkness and quiet, no key, no specific tonality. It’s like wandering in a dark room. How big is the room? We don’t know — we’re lost in the emptiness.
And as the symphony progresses, it always wants to return to the darkness, the negative zone of silence. It’s as if the notes of the symphony are written around a great emptiness, to show its architecture.
It’s about something other, something mysterious.
I conduct it this weekend, in misty, beautiful Victoria, BC.