Beethoven’s music, like much of his life, was full of strange paradoxes. The German musician, who started losing the ability to hear by the age of 28, almost went deaf by the end of his life. But, that did not prevent him from composing music which bears the hallmark of genius.
While critics have appreciated the ‘inevitable form’ of his compositions, the layman relates to the emotion it evokes, and perhaps that’s the reason why his music has pervaded into popular culture too — whether it is the Moonlight Sonata and Für Elise used in Gus Van Sant’s Elephant (2003) or The King’s Speech, which uses the 2nd movement (Allegretto) of the Seventh Symphony.
The coming year marks the 250th birth anniversary of the composer, and Goethe-Institut Max Mueller Bhavan Kolkata and Goethe-Institut Istanbul, are preparing to commemorate it in the most unique way possible. The institutes are collaborating on a year-long project called Eastern Variations, which will recreate the 2nd movement of the Seventh Symphony, with traditional Indian and Turkish instruments. This project will explore the timbre of the Eastern instruments, as they react to Beethoven’s compositions.
Under the leadership of Varun Desai, an electronic music producer based in Kolkata and Ulrich Mertin, a viola player, conductor and experimental music composer from Istanbul, the year-long project will culminate in an electro-acoustic album to be released in 2020.
The LP will have Beethoven’s eight-minute composition (2nd movement), played with traditional Indian and Turkish instruments on side A, and the variations that the musicians come up with, while interpreting the movement, on side B. “The project came out of a workshop organised by the Goethe-Institut Munich, where participants from 20 countries had gathered together to brainstorm over projects, for the celebration,” says Friso Maecker, Director, Max Mueller Bhavan Kolkata.
Mertin recently completed the first phase, with his trip to Kolkata and interacted with the Indian musicians, to understand the sound of our instruments.