Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 Eroica | arranged by different composers for chamber ensembles

An adventurous arrangement of a concert classic: Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 'Eroica' played by young musicians from Belarus, Germany and Ukraine. What’s special about it? Each of the four symphony movements was arranged for chamber ensemble by a different composer. The result is an unprecedented version of Beethoven’s Third Symphony, and there is much to discover in it.

The ‘Eroica’ for chamber ensembles of various instrumentations formed the framework of the Campus Concert at the Beethovenfest Bonn 2022. Under the general direction of Belarusian conductor Vitali Alekseenok, the Campus Project Ensemble played and the Campus Project Choir sang with singers from the Concordia Choir (Belarus), the Gewandhaus Youth Choir (Germany) and the Sophia Chamber Choir (Ukraine). The performance took place in the former West German parliament’s historic plenary hall.

Symphony No. 3 by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827) is not just one of this composer’s most famous symphonies, it is actually one of the most famous symphonies of all time. In the first edition from 1806, it is titled “Heroic Symphony”, and is dedicated to a great man. In the four movements of his large-scale Third, Beethoven breaks with many symphonic traditions, so that the ‘Eroica’ is with some justification no longer considered a “classical symphony” but as the first symphony of the Romantic period.

In order to render this massive symphony playable for private occasions, too, several arrangements for piano or smaller ensembles were already created during Beethoven’s lifetime. The chamber music version of the ‘Eroica’ played here is nevertheless an experiment, since each of the four movements was arranged by a different composer. Movements one, two and four are arrangements by three of Beethoven’s contemporaries. The arrangement of the third movement is new, from 2022, by composer Maxim Kolomiiets, born in Kiev in 1981, and commissioned by Deutsche Welle. Kolomiiets’ version of the third movement of the symphony, the Scherzo, features a chorus that enters with vocalise as the movement progresses, then shifts into textual singing and then ebbs away again with vocalise until the pure Beethoven movement is heard again at the end. Kolomiiets wants the choral passage that breaks into the scherzo to be understood as a portal to a better world that opens in a surprising way when listening to the familiar music. The correspondingly cheerful text comes from Ukrainian poet Mykola Khvylovy (1893 - 1933).

The arrangement of the first symphonic movement (Allegro con brio) was written by Beethoven’s student Ferdinand Ries (1784 - 1838). Ries had witnessed the composition of the 3rd Symphony in 1803 and 1804 and arranged it for piano quartet immediately after the premiere – with a piano part that can be described as truly orchestral. Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778 - 1837), composer, pianist and close friend of Beethoven’s, also arranged the ‘Eroica’ with a focus on the piano and otherwise provided for variable instrumentation. In his version of the second symphonic movement, the Funeral March, the violin and piano take on the function of a military drum. Closest to Beethoven’s original is the arrangement by Carl Friedrich Ebers (1770 - 1836), from which the finale (Allegro molto) is heard here. Ebers assumes a fairly extensive chamber orchestra, which differs from Beethoven’s instrumentation only in the reduction of the winds.

(00:00) LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 55, ‘Eroica’

(00:21) I. Allegro con brio
arr. by Ferdinand Ries

CAMPUS PROJECT ENSEMBLE
Varvara Vasylieva | VIOLIN
Kateryna Suprun | VIOLA
Viktor Rekalo | CELLO
Kiryl Keduk | PIANO

(18:10) II. Marcia funebre (Adagio assai)
arr. by Johann N. Hummel

CAMPUS PROJECT ENSEMBLE
Aliaksai Ladzik | FLUTE
Varvara Vasylieva | VIOLIN
Viktor Rekalo | CELLO
Kiryl Keduk | PIANO

(33:20) III. Scherzo (Allegro vivace)
arr. by Maxim Kolomiiets (world premiere)

CAMPUS PROJECT CHOIR

CAMPUS PROJECT ENSEMBLE
Aliaksai Ladzik | FLUTE
Henry Petersen | CLARINET
Conrad Hähnlein | CLARINET
Tanya Starykh | FRENCH HORN
Dmytro Taran | FRENCH HORN
Varvara Vasylieva | VIOLIN
Shiori Katsura | VIOLIN
Kateryna Suprun | VIOLA
Viktor Rekalo | CELLO
Milan Thüer | DOUBLE BASS
Kiryl Keduk | PIANO

Vitali Alekseenok | ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

(44:12) IV. Finale (Allegro molto)
arr. by Carl Friedrich Ebers

CAMPUS PROJECT ENSEMBLE
Aliaksai Ladzik | FLUTE
Henry Petersen | CLARINET
Conrad Hähnlein | CLARINET
Tanya Starykh | FRENCH HORN
Dmytro Taran | FRENCH HORN
Varvara Vasylieva | VIOLIN
Shiori Katsura | VIOLIN
Kateryna Suprun | VIOLA
Viktor Rekalo | CELLO
Milan Thüer | DOUBLE BASS
Kiryl Keduk | PIANO

Vitali Alekseenok | ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

© Deutsche Welle 2022

Watch more videos in our Beethoven playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_SdnzPd3eBWcX1eOXH-w75x-_-7gRF-w

#LudwigvanBeethoven #symphony #chambermusic