Beethoven Explored, Vol. 6 : The Chamber Eroica
- Submitting institution
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Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
- Unit of assessment
- 33 - Music, Drama, Dance, Performing Arts, Film and Screen Studies
- Output identifier
- 2862212
- Type
- Q - Digital or visual media
- Publisher
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- Month
- February
- Year
- 2015
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
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- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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3
- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- Beethoven Explored was a decade-long research project that placed Beethoven’s core violin and piano repertoire alongside the works of his contemporaries to explore how he might have been heard in his time. 'The Chamber Eroica' is a world premiere recording of the 1807 Piano Quartet transcription of the Eroica Symphony. The transcription was made just three years after the premiere of the Symphony and the recording offers new and unexpected insights into this well-known symphony, shining a light on the inner workings of the music.
This performance involved extensive preparation and performances of Beethoven’s major chamber works, including his Piano Quartet, his arrangement of the 2nd Symphony for Piano Trio and another contemporary arrangement of the 7th Symphony for Piano Trio. These performances allowed a greater understanding of the process of transcribing symphonic works for chamber forces in Beethoven’s day. Ferdinand Ries, Beethoven’s pupil, published a piano quartet transcription of the Eroica almost 50 years after the 1807 version and this is the main context for understanding the 1807 version. Though the author of the 1807 transcription is unknown, certain characteristics lead my co-researchers and I to believe that Beethoven may have been involved the transcription, as he was with the Piano Concerto arrangement of the Violin Concerto. In particular, the Chamber Eroica avoids the clichés afflicting this genre, reimagining rather than merely transcribing the notes with responsibilities reassigned to different instruments when compared to the original, resulting in a highly imaginative and creative “new work”.
As researcher-performers, we experienced this giant symphony in extraordinarily intimate terms. As a result, the clarity and incisive qualities of the music were revealed as if heard for the first time and the intrinsic conversational qualities of the music took on greater importance - insights that here become apparent to the listener.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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