Practising research in performance: Beethoven’s chamber music
John Irving, Director of the IMR, collaborated in two chamber music lecture-recitals, with two professional performers from the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in an exploration and presentation of crucial practice-as-research issues in Beethoven’s chamber music, using period instruments and a knowledge of late 18th/19th-century historical performance practice. The lecture-recitals were offered to two diverse communities of retirees and overseas students in the London area disseminating the research to audiences beyond academe.
About 30 people attended each, and there were a large number of interested questions at the end. The events were clearly very much appreciated and the diverse audience (in age as well as background) got a great deal out of the experience. One audience member commented that it was ‘a truly wonderful afternoon ... like walking through a familiar landscape for the first time (with ears open!)’.
John and his fellow performers rehearsed and performed Beethoven's Trio, Op.38 and the session will be written up in the Journal of the Beethoven Society of Europe.
