This weekend, the SSO opened its season with a rousing concert.
After the Overture to Mozart's Idomeneo, we heard Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64, beautifully performed by David Chan, concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. I do like the concerto too for the fact that there is no break between the movements, the music simply flows, and as Mr. Chan said during the pre-concert talk, this is not a work written for the virtuoso, but rather for the music itself.
After intermission, we had Beethoven's Third Symphony, the Eroica, a tour de force, both in composition and today's performance, which got well deserved, sustained applause. In his pre-concert talk, "Behind the Baton," Eckart Preu did his best to debunk the entrenched story that the the symphony was originally dedicated to Napoleon and the dedication and title later changed, as political events changed. He sounded convincing, but I do think the jury is still out, though I have to agree that the story as told, 10 years after Beethoven's death, is a bit fishy. As to "Eroica" itself, one sometimes has to look for the "heroic" : as in all of Beethoven's symphonies, the light alternates with the dark, Eckart said. I always enjoy "funeral marches," be it Beethoven, or Mahler, or others, they are often not what one expects.

Images courtesy Wikimedia Commons