"Choosing Beethoven's Symphony No. 2... Feel the Will Overcoming Hearing Loss"[On Stage]

Lotte Cultural Foundation Classic Revolution from 7 to 11 Next Month
Conductor Choi Hee-jun Conducts 3 Beethoven Pieces Including Fidelio Overture
Conductor Choi Soo-yeol Conducts 'Faust' Symphony After 10 Years

Among Beethoven's nine symphonies, the ones frequently performed are ironically the odd-numbered ones: 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th. Choi Hee-jun, the chief conductor and music director of the Suwon City Symphony Orchestra (Suwon Symphony), is scheduled to perform Beethoven's Symphony No. 2 on the stage of the Classic Revolution at Lotte Concert Hall on the 8th of next month. As Choi Hee-jun stated, "Beethoven's symphonies grow in scale starting from the 3rd," the 1st and 2nd symphonies are early works where the distinctive features of Beethoven's symphonies are not fully realized, and thus are particularly rarely performed.

Conductor Choi Hee-jun emphasized that the reason for selecting the 2nd symphony is that it was composed around the time when Beethoven's hearing loss was worsening. Along with Beethoven's Symphony No. 2, pianist Kim Tae-hyung will also perform Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3.

Conductor Hee-Jun Choi [Photo by Lotte Cultural Foundation]

At a press conference held at Lotte Concert Hall on the 19th, Conductor Choi Hee-jun explained, "Both Beethoven's Symphony No. 2 and Piano Concerto No. 3 were composed around the time when his hearing loss was becoming severe," adding, "It was a period of agonizing over a fatal hearing disability as a musician, a time when he could have given up music, but Beethoven did not give up his life as a musician and showed his determination to continue his life as a composer through these works."

Conductor Choi Hee-jun described Beethoven as both a musician and a life mentor. "Beethoven's symphonies are essential textbooks that every conductor must go through. Through Beethoven's symphonies, one can learn about traditional classical music and the authenticity of music. Also, as a musician, one humbly bows before Beethoven's life, who overcame any hardship through music."

He emphasized, "Although all nine of Beethoven's symphonies are famous, I believe the 2nd symphony is just as charming as any other symphony. It can be seen as a work that embodies Beethoven rising again for music, escaping the shadows of anguish and despair."

Conductor Choi Hee-jun will fill Suwon Symphony's performance at Classic Revolution entirely with Beethoven's works. The first piece will be the overture to Beethoven's only opera, Fidelio.

"The opera tells the story of a woman named Leonore who disguises herself as a man to rescue her husband. The alias Leonore uses is Fidelio, and the courage and power of love shown in Fidelio, both in Beethoven's time and today, might be considered a revolution. The overture, the first piece of the concert, is filled with the energy of hope."

Classic Revolution is a classical music festival presented annually in summer by the Lotte Cultural Foundation. This year, the timing was slightly delayed compared to previous years because the Lotte Cultural Foundation held a concert in July commemorating the 100th birth anniversary of the Hungarian-American cello master J?nos Starker (1924?2013). From September 7 to 11, five orchestras ? KBS Symphony Orchestra, Incheon Symphony Orchestra, Suwon Symphony Orchestra, Gyeonggi Philharmonic, and Hankyung artePhil ? will perform.

Conductor Choi Soo-yeol will perform Liszt's Faust Symphony with Hankyung artePhil on the 9th. It has been nearly 10 years since a Korean conductor last performed Faust, when Im Heon-jeong conducted the National Symphony Orchestra in 2015. It is a piece that is rarely performed.

Conductor Choi Suyeol [Photo provided by Lotte Cultural Foundation, (c) Piljoo Hwang]

Conductor Choi Soo-yeol explained that it is not because the piece is poor, but because it is considered to have low cost-effectiveness. Faust is a large-scale work lasting about 70 minutes, requiring a choir and parts played on a pipe organ, which demands considerable effort for performance. He mentioned that since the pipe organ can be utilized at Lotte Concert Hall, he thought of Liszt's Faust. To focus solely on Faust, only this symphony will be performed without an overture or concerto.

Faust is a play that Johann Wolfgang von Goethe spent about 60 years of his 80-year life writing and completed one year before his death. Liszt was inspired by this masterpiece to compose the symphony of the same name, making its interpretation challenging.

Conductor Choi Soo-yeol said, "Fortunately, Liszt did not express the story of Faust in music but depicted the personalities of the three main characters ? Faust, Gretchen, and Mephistopheles ? and turned them into music, allowing simplification during performance. Although I still have many questions about the content of the play Faust, musically it is a well-organized work."