by Kenneth Woods | Apr 24, 2020 | Explore the Score
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770-1827) Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37 Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto had one of the longer gestations of any of his works. He first began sketching ideas for the piece in 1796, and did most of the main work on the piece in 1800,...
by Kenneth Woods | Apr 22, 2020 | A view from the podium, Explore the Score
This essay was written for the launch of the now hugely- disrupted English Symphony Orchestra celebrations of Beethoven’s 250th birthday ahead of wonderful performances of the 7th and 8th Symphonies in January and early February. I hope we’ll all be...
by Kenneth Woods | Jan 24, 2020 | Not quite the news
This is a story which has gone un-told for too long. Every time I conduct Beethoven’s 7th Symphony, I am reminded of the viola terrorist. She was a very GREAT LADY, and the PRINCIPAL VIOLIST of the very slightly larger orchestra in the very slightly more populous town...
by Kenneth Woods | Jan 4, 2020 | ESO LvB 250, Lists
The 10 Best Beethoven Symphony Finales Yes, I know, he only wrote 9 symphonies, but nobody does ‘top 9’ lists. So: best Beethovenian finale in a non-Beethoven symphony? It could be Brahms 1, in which Brahms masterfully integrates some of the formal complexities...
by Kenneth Woods | Dec 16, 2019 | A view from the podium, Piano, pianists and pianism
Notes I wrote for the 6 CD Albany Records collection of live performances by the great American pianist, Howard Karp. These are proper live recordings – taken mostly from archival reel-to-reel 2 track tapes of Howard’s concerts in Madison and Urbana. Give...
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