The following was submitted by Sandra Ruttan, who's a musician and music teacher.
On Sunday, April 28, Georgian Music hosted Beethoven Rebooted at Bethel Community Church.
This concert was performed by musicians Amahl Arulanandam and Bryan Holt, who make up the cello duo VC2.
The performers were met with hearty applause from a significant audience on-site, as well as cameras live streaming their music to online subscribers. The listeners were not to be disappointed. What followed was an afternoon that was both musically stimulating and entertaining.
The duo, described as innovative, captivating and boundary-pushing on their website, very much lived up to this high praise.
Both musicians are well known and respected in the world of Canadian classical music and beyond, having performed with top organizations like the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Canadian Opera Company, the National Ballet of Canada, and many more.
As a duo, they combine their artistry and technical skills to perform and record unusual arrangements of, and fresh musical perspectives on, beloved classical pieces, as well as bringing to light overlooked gems from the past and inspiring new compositions.
The concert on Sunday showcased all of the above with impressive technical skill and musical charm. Each introduced humorously with anecdotes and historical background, the program included arrangements of such well-loved pieces as the fiery Allegro con Brio from Beethoven’s 5th Symphony and the haunting first movement of his Moonlight piano sonate.
Alongside these were arrangements of pieces written for cello by lessor known but deserving contemporaries of Beethoven, as well as pieces composed by present day composers, mostly Canadian, using material from works by Beethoven.
The programming, as such, was rich with variation. Within the more modern arrangements, Five Little Pieces by Canadian composer Anton Kraft, was itself full of colours and textures ranging from delightfully plucked to sassy “fiddling” with a touch of distortion.
Meanwhile, Canadian Fjola Evans’ piece Ridge and Furrow mesmerized with tightly overlapping canon and shimmery trills of various oscillation. Entsprechung by American composer, Matt Brubeck, created an intimate conversation punctuated by perfectly coordinated and startling silences.
The final piece, Triumvirate, by Canadian composer, Raphael Weinroth-Browne, wowed the audience with a fusion of Beethoven and heavy metal (imagine!) played with intense and compelling virtuosity by this amazing pair of cellists.
A standing ovation acknowledged this wonderful, musical experience.
