As the audience settles in at the Paramount Theatre for the first of a two-night Beethoven concert on Nov. 14, Stewart Goodyear will be ready. The Canadian pianist and composer has dedicated his life to classical music, and will put his talents to the test in a rare feat of musical endurance during his visit to Iowa.
Over two nights, Goodyear will perform all five of Beethoven’s piano concertos as part of Orchestra Iowa’s Masterworks III series. The first night will feature concertos one, two and three; the second performance will conclude with concertos four and five.
Although the task ahead of him is a challenge, Goodyear said all the hard work is already done by the time he sits down at the piano.
“It is a very intense thing,” he said. “But part of the preparation is to be extremely relaxed and to let the music flow so that there is absolutely no pressure, no nerves.”
During the back-to-back concerts, the audience will be taken on a roughly three-hour journey through Beethoven’s musical evolution. Goodyear said it’s important for him to be in tune with himself before a performance so he can “deliver all the emotions required.”
“I find making music, performing music, is the purest form of catharsis, and the purest form of communication,” Goodyear said. “It has no walls, and we are all there to experience something extremely timeless, fulfilling and moving.”
The evolution of Beethoven in five concertos
Ludwig van Beethoven’s five piano concertos were composed between 1795 and 1809, during a time known as his early to mid-career period. Together, they offer an insight into how he evolved as a composer.
Goodyear hopes audiences in Cedar Rapids will attend both performances to experience the full arc of Beethoven’s musical style. He described the first concerto as hopeful and ambitious, while the second offers a more intimate sound that honors past virtuosos like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Goodyear said the third marks the beginning of what Beethoven eventually became, and offers a defiant and angry “doom-ridden” sound.
When describing the fourth concerto, which opens night two, Goodyear lit up as he recounted its magical qualities.
“I think Beethoven really became a master of the piano concerto with that fourth concerto,” he said. “It is full of surprises.”
As for the fifth? Goodyear describes it as grand and majestic, a fitting finale for the “concerto-thon.”
A piano, an orchestra and a shared love of music
Goodyear will be joined on stage by the orchestra, led by Orchestra Iowa Musical Director Timothy Hankewich.
Beethoven was one of the first composers to have the orchestra be an equal partner to the piano, according to Goodyear. He said that during the performances, everyone on stage becomes “kindred spirits” as they move through the concertos, with a shared love for the music that should be inspiring to the audience.
“Not only am I collaborating with the audience, but I'm also collaborating with the members of the orchestra," Goodyear said. "So, there's a lot of give and take that goes on, and that's going to be an immense joy, too.”
Goodyear called the two-night showcase a “uniquely personal experience,” not just for the audience, but for himself as well. He first encountered Beethoven at age 3, and he remembers it as a fundamentally life-changing moment.
“Beethoven was the beginning of my musical life, and as soon as I heard the Ninth Symphony, it just put me on a quest to discover so much more about that composer, more than any other composer when I was a child,” Goodyear recalled. “Beethoven spoke to me so deeply.”
His connection to Beethoven’s music at such a young age ultimately drove his desire to become a classical pianist and composer.
“I wanted to make it a spiritual mission to be at a level where I could perform and record these works that I loved very, very much,” he said.
Goodyear’s upcoming performance will not be the first time he plays all five piano concertos together; however, he sees each undertaking as an accomplishment worth celebrating.
“Every single concerto presents different challenges,” he said. “But I love the adventure. I love the preparation process and just looking at the piece as a whole, as a composer, how Beethoven came up with these amazing ideas and his way of being a lyricist, his way of being an orchestrator and his way of being a virtuoso.”
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Orchestra Iowa is a sponsor of Iowa Public Radio.
