Hanna Plays Beethoven
Orchestral Excerpt Insights • 01-Mar-2021
For CSO Principal Bass Alexander Hanna, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 is one of the most important pieces in the history of music, and the recitativo from the work’s fourth movement presents an opportunity to convey profound emotions on the bass. “There's a real feeling of optimism,” Hanna said. “The hierarchy of the music-making needs to be, at the very, very top. What feeling do we want to evoke in our listeners? Whether you're playing that in an audition or in performance, that is your mission — to evoke that feeling.”
Up Next in Orchestral Excerpt Insights
-
Chen Plays Strauss
CSO Concertmaster Robert Chen performs and guides listeners through his interpretation of the famous violin solo from Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben. “It's very important to be prepared technically to play this piece, but I think the technical and the expression, they go hand in hand,” Chen sa...
-
Williamson Plays Kodály
Zoltán Kodály’s Dances of Galánta is an interpretive and virtuosic giant in the orchestral clarinet repertoire. CSO Principal Clarinet Stephen Williamson demonstrates how crafting one’s own personal narrative can fuel expression. “It's important to have imagery in mind when you play a pi...
-
Batallán Plays Mahler
For CSO Principal Trumpet Esteban Batallán, the instrument is an extension of his voice, and that serves as the foundation of his music-making. When performing Mahler's iconic Symphony No. 5, Batallán emphasized, “Don't forget to sing. That's the most important thing — singing, phrasing. Everythi...