Beethoven bonanza: I heard three symphonies, three concertos, two sonatas, five string quartets, and various other works by the shaggy Meister in five marathon days of the somewhat deceptively titled Mostly Mozart Festival. Some highlights: Alisa Weilerstein storming through Golijov's Azul and Kodály's Solo Sonata, Paul Lewis mastering the Beethoven Opus 111 Sonata, the St. Lawrence Quartet going to intimate extremes in Opus 130 (with Grosse Fuge), the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen under Paavo Järvi delivering an explosive Seventh. More next week in The New Yorker. Note: the Swedish Radio Choir, which sang magnificently on Saturday's two-concert Beethoven marathon, returns this Wednesday in Fauré's Requiem and excerpts from Rachmaninov's Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. Yes, that's a Time Out Of Mind bumper sticker on my bike.
