Ludwig groupies, or just music lovers: Beethoven 2020 offers Naples a solid grounding

The only thing missing from Beethoven 2020 is a college credit. It's nearly 16 hours of Beethoven piano sonatas and another 16 hours of fervent discussion around them.

Milana Strezeva, founder of the Grand Piano Series in Naples, might concede getting such accreditation wasn't top of mind for her in creating this series, which launches Tuesday evening at Vanderbilt Presbyterian Church (see information box). Strezeva was busy working with Colburn School of Music in Los Angeles, her collaborative partner, to find pianists fluent in the right segments of the composer's repertoire.

What's more, they had to schedule openings that would give concertgoers a straight-line hearing of the composer's 32 sonatas. (Colburn will offer the same performances on different dates.)

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Further, Strezeva had to dovetail their schedules into that of Mark Travis, who will be offering pre-concert talks for all of them. Travis is associate director for media production with the New York Philharmonic and a former writer/producer for Chicago's classical music powerhouse, WFMT-FM radio. 

And finally, this project is separate from her Grand Piano Series, which is its own five-concert program beginning in December. The performances at Vanderbilt Presbyterian Church roll on, with programs of Chopin, Scarlatti, Mendelssohn, Ginastera, even Gershwin.

In the end, the sheer volume of music — sonatas are the only genre Beethoven wrote in consistently throughout his life — will make Beethoven 2020 spill over into next autumn. The final concerts will precede the actual month of Beethoven's birth 250 years ago, in December 1770.

Beethoven 2020 is the most well defined celebration in Southwest Florida of a major date for Western music history.

"I feel our community deserved something of that caliber," Strezeva said of the project. "It's a rare opportunity to hear the entire canon of Beethoven's sonatas live unless you live in a major city."

Recorded music just isn't the same, she added: "It's different when you put on a CD. That magic is only created in a live performance." She's also excited about the quality of young prize-winning performers, all Colburn graduates or advanced degree students: "It's going to be terrifc."

All these performances will have the enhancement of  Travis' preconcert lectures an hour before the performance. There's also a special midseason event on Beethoven's influence beyond the concert hall with David Dubal, author of  books such as "The Essential Canon of Classical Music" and a  faculty member of the Juilliard School and Manhattan School of Music.  Dubal, both a pianist and a broadcast interviewer, has talked with and befriended music luminaries from Vladimir Horowitz, Claudio Arrau and Rosalyn Tureck to Yehudi Menuhin, Murray Perahia, Andras Schiff, Mitsuko Uchida and Alfred Brendel.

The guest artists themselves may offer a good deal of the enrichment. Dominic Cheli opens the series at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 22, and he bubbles over via email with enthusiasm for the four he's playing.

"The early sonatas are so much fun to play, since I feel they are often neglected in favor of Beethoven's middle to late works. These early works have such strong personality as Beethoven proves to the world that he is a composer to be reckoned with," he wrote.

His own favorite, he said, just may be No. 4, the "Grand" Sonata:

"The first movement has wonderful rhythmic energy and excitement, like a galloping horse leading a carriage along at breakneck speed. The second movement is one of the greatest slow movements ever written by Beethoven: It shows absolute mastery in the subtleties of silence and sound to create a profound statement."

Its nickname, not bestowed by the composer, comes from the fact that it was published on its own, rather than part of a series — or possibly because of its 28-30 minute length. It is a brute among Beethoven's sonatas, second in length only to the 45-minute "Hammerklavier" sonata. 

Those who come along for the series will make some new sonata friends, but will also hear the favorites, the "Appassionata" and the "Moonlight" among them. The schedule for this season follows: 

Harriet Howard Heithaus covers arts and entertainment for the Naples Daily News/naplesnews.com. Reach her at 239-213-6091.

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Beethoven 2020

What: The first 26 Beethoven piano sonatas with discussion as well as an afternoon discussion on Beethoven from an historical perspective. The last six Beethoven sonatas will be programmed in the fall.

Where: Vanderbilt Presbyterian Church 1225 Piper Blvd., Naples, except as noted

Admission: $45 single; seven-concert subscription for all Beethoven 2020 concerts this season, $280; 11-concert subscription for Beethoven 2020 and the Grand Piano Series, $396

To buy:grandpianoseries.org or call 646-734-8179

Schedule and performers:

7 p.m. Oct. 22: Piano sonatas 1 to 4 ("Grand Sonata"). Dominic Cheli

7 p.m. Nov. 12: Piano sonatas 5 to 8 "Pathetique". Jongyun

3 p.m. Jan. 30: “Beethoven's Place in The History of Humanity”: Lecture by David Dubal, former music director of New York City classical music station WNCN for Grand Piano Series.120 Moorings Park Drive, Naples. $45.

7 p.m. Feb. 11: Piano Sonatas No. 9-12 ("Funeral March"), Yanfeng

7 p.m. April 21: Piano Sonatas No. 13, 14 (""Moonlight"), 15. Gunyoung

7 p.m. June 23: Piano Sonatas No. 16 to 21 ("Waldstein"). Nadia Azzi, MinHye Choi and Fabio Bidini

7 p.m. July 14: Piano Sonatas No. 22, 23 ("Appassionata"), and 24- 26.  HyeJin Kim and Paul Williamson

Something else: A 6 p.m. discussion of Beethoven and the works to be performed with Mark Travis, associate director of media production for the New York Philharmonic, precedes all piano concerts