by Peter Feher
This article was originally published on Cleveland.com
CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio — Four fateful notes were knocking around in Beethoven’s head when he was composing many of his most famous works in his mid-30s.
This motif would, of course, find its supreme expression in his Fifth Symphony, premiered in 1808 and part of the popular imagination ever since. But just a few years before, Beethoven had tried out a variation on the idea — softer but no less suspenseful — at the beginning of his Violin Concerto.
The crowd at Blossom Music Center last night, Saturday July 19, was remarkably hushed, ready to hear the four faint quarter notes tapped out on timpani that begin the concerto. Over the next 45 minutes, violinist Veronika Eberle elaborated on the sequence in numerous flights of virtuosic fancy, floating high above the solid, sturdy accompaniment of the Cleveland Orchestra. Yet throughout, the performance remained grounded in the quiet clarity of that opening measure.