Beethoven Transformed

Beethoven Transformed is the culmination of three years’ work by Boxwood & Brass to explore how Beethoven’s contemporaries re-imagined his music for 6- and 9-part Harmonie. We want to show that music often thought of as untouchable ‘masterpieces’ – like Beethoven’s 7th Symphony or Sonata Pathetique – was once treated with much greater liberty. It’s the 19th century equivalent of how today’s musicians take a jazz ‘standard’ and transform it into something new. By playing these arrangements, we also gain a deeper understanding of the the virtuosity and artistry of the leading wind players of Beethoven’s time, who used Harmoniemusik as a vehicle for displaying their own amazing musicianship.

Hear Emily talk more about the project and listen to excerpts of the music…

The Story So Far…

Our journey into this music began with a UK tour in 2017. ‘The Harmonie in Beethoven’s Vienna’, placed the epic, anonymous 7th Symphony arrangement alongside music by Beethoven’s contemporaries. During 2018, we added to our repertoire Beethoven’s own early Sextet Op. 71, and revisited the 7th Symphony in the context of ‘Decline and Fall’, a programme exploring themes of revolution and political upheaval during the Napoleonic wars c. 1805-1810. For this project, our bassoonist and co-artistic director Robert Percival took Beethoven’s incidental music to Goethe’s revolutionary play Egmont and created a suite of fantastic new arrangements as a companion piece to Friedrich Starke’s 1810 arrangement of Beethoven’s Egmont Overture. Finally in late 2018 we gave the world premiere performance of a previously unheard and highly virtuosic wind sextet version of Beethoven’s much-loved Septet Op. 20, made by his student and assistant Carl Czerny in 1805.

Into the recording studio

The decision to record all of this music was a big one, but we had so much positive feedback to the concerts, and so many questions about a CD, that we decided we had to go for it! Knowing that 2020 was Beethoven’s 250th birthday year gave us a useful deadline. In February 2019 we spent an intense 7 days recording all of the works we’d performed, as well as a wonderful anonymous arrangement of Beethoven’s Sonata Pathetique which we had last played back in 2014-15. We made the recording at the National Centre for Early Music in York, a beautiful church converted into a recording and performance venue, under the expert eyes and ears of Adam Binks from Resonus Classics, with assistance from Steven Devine. At the end of it, it’s fair to say we were all pretty wiped out, but also very proud of what we’d done and excited to hear the final results!

Beethoven Transformed Volume 1 was released in November 2019, containing the 6-part repertoire: the Sextet Op. 71 and Septet Op. 20 arr. Czerny. You can hear excerpts and read some of our great reviews here.

Beethoven Transformed Volume 2, with the 9-part arrangements of Egmont, the Sonata Pathetique and the 7th Symphony, is due to be released later in 2020. But we need some support to get there…

Support Our Crowdfunding Campaign

We’ve been fortunate to have some of our costs met by the University of Huddersfield, who support Emily Worthington’s research into wind music, and by Resonus, who take charge of the recording and editing processes. But now, we need a last bit of help to get us across the line. We need to raise £2500 to cover the printing of the CDs of volume 2 so that we can get our hands on our own lovely shiny copies of our second Beethoven disc.

Our wonderful supporters around the UK and online have are already played a huge part of this project over the last three years: you’ve given us belief and encouragement and invaluable feedback in person at our concerts, and through your comments and shares on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Now we’re hoping that you will be interested in investing a little in this final stage of this project that you have helped inspire. As a thankyou, we are offering a range of gifts to mark your part in helping us ‘Transform’ Beethoven!

Thank you for your help – We reached our target!

**The campaign is now closed! But if you would still like to support the group, please take a look at our ‘Friends of Harmoniemusik’ page!**

Paypal will give you an option to supply your a mailing address for your gift. You can also ‘add a note’ to tell us exactly how to acknowledge you in the CD booklet (£50+), which score you would like to receive (£75+), or say if you would like to remain anonymous. Rewards will be sent out as soon as the CD is printed.

£5 and above: Heartfelt thanks on our social media platforms and website

£15 A signed copy of our first CD, ‘Music for a Prussian Salon’, with a personal thank-you note

£25 A signed copy of Beethoven Transformed Vol. 1, with a personal thank-you note

£30 A signed copy of Beethoven Transformed Vol 2, with a personal thank-you note

£50* Copies of both Beethoven CDs and and your name in the booklet of volume 2 (subject to print deadline†)

£75* Copies of both Beethoven CDs, your name in the booklet (subject to print deadline†) and a special copy of the score to one of the works (Egmont, Pathetique or Septet) with a personalised dedication to you on the first page!

£100+ As £75 and… **We are no longer able to offer an invite to our rehearsal on 18th March 2020 and a ticket to the concert on the 19th due to the temporary closure of the venue as a result of COVID-19**. We can instead offer an additional score or CD of your choice, or tickets to a future concert. We will be in touch with existing donors directly.

Please note gifts are not cumulative except where stated.

*Please add £5 for postage if you live outside of the UK
†Acknowledgements for in the CD booklet need to be supplied by 30 April 2020. After that, supporter names will be published on our website.

We’re so grateful for your support. And guess what? You’re funding Beethoven’s music just like Beethoven did!

The idea of ‘crowdfunding’ is actually a very 19th century one - Beethoven himself would have recognised the basic idea. Back in his day, it was called a ‘subscription model’: composers asked supporters to subscribe in advance to sheet music editions, in order to cover the cost of printing the music. The subscribers’ names were usually printed in the front of the music. This allowed composers to publish expensive things like orchestral scores that would not otherwise be commercially viable, and gave their noble patrons a way of demonstrating their enlightened support for the latest music!

Our heartfelt thanks to all of our supporters:

Steven Devine
R. Mountford
Jeremy Lawrence
Edwina Smith
The Amadè Players
Ian H Learner
Toby Miller
Tim Hill
Anthony Halstead
LJ Brooks
Andreas Parmerud
Marc Vallon
Carolyn Bell
Paul Tyas
Matthew Dart
Penny Dossor
Austin Glatthorn