Laud Ludwig Why not? Everyone else is BY BECCA DEWAN

Bring out the noise-makers, it’s time to celebrate Beethoven. No, it’s not his birthday, nor any significant anniversary of it – he was born in December of 1770. But when is it not a good time to celebrate Beethoven? Prost, let’s drink to Ludwig!

For whatever reason, the Portland Symphony Orchestra has teamed up with many music organizations in Portland to celebrate the life of Ludwig. Their concert on March 1, which is part of the PSO’s Classical Tuesday concert series, will kick off a two-month Beethoven celebration of concerts and lectures.

At this first concert, the PSO will perform the Overture to Fidelio, Beethoven’s Violin Concerto featuring Stephanie Chase, and Symphony No. 3, "Eroica." Director of String Studies at USM, Robert Lehmann, will give a pre-concert lecture. Stephanie Chase is giving a master class at USM Tuesday morning.

Beethoven was born into a musical household in Bonn, Germany. After Beethoven exhibited a talent for the piano, his father, a court musician himself, decided Beethoven would be the next Mozart. Despite these efforts, young Ludwig did not achieve the same level of success as a boy as did Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. While Mozart thrived in the classical music era of the 18th century, Beethoven is often described by scholars as a "giant straddling two styles." He built on the conventions of the classic period and created models for composers of the Romantic era. Romantic composer Franz Schubert confided to a friend, "I still hope to be able to make something of myself, but who can do anything after Beethoven?"

I’d like a show of hands, please, of those who learned something from that last paragraph. Beethoven was revolutionary. His compositions are divided into three categories. He went deaf. Okay, basic knowledge that most people who listen to classical music have about the famous composer. His pieces are certainly worth performing, studying, and listening to. But why a celebration now?

Why not? He was a masterful composer and his pieces still stand as archetypes of musical genius. People will always enjoy listening to Beethoven. Perhaps this is why the PSO planned a concert of his works. Could this be a shrewd move by the organization to avoid further financial difficulties? Hrm, that may be a crude look at a wonderful event.

But where is the balance between the business of programming and the musical considerations? In other words, how far can you push the balance between programming pieces that everyone already knows yet loves and will therefore come to hear, and pieces that are new by composers perhaps no one’s heard of? The classics are what draw patrons to Merrill Auditorium; we like what we know and are suspect of the unknown. Should programmers be enablers of this musical conservatism? Performing new ‘classical’ works is always a gamble and requires the musical director to have some balls.

A program of all Beethoven is not ballsy, but that doesn’t make it unworthy. And looking ahead to March 22’s Tuesday Classical Concert by the PSO, smooshed between a different overture to Beethoven’s Fidelio and his über-popular 9th Symphony is a world premiere of the commissioned work "Three Longfellow Poems" by Vineet Shende. So there. Shende is a professor of music at Bowdoin College and will be giving a pre-concert lecture on his work.

It’s great to see a collaboration by music organizations in the Portland area such as this. The PSO and Portland String Quartet, chamber choirs from Bowdoin and USM, Choral Arts Society, and guest lecturers all are participating in the Beethoven celebration. PSO is even holding a day-long music camp for children, fostering the love and appreciation of classical music in the littlest ears.

Back to Tuesday’s program: Beethoven wrote only one opera (Fidelio, remember? Pay attention) and it was never very well received. Four times he tried having it performed over the course of about a decade. For each of the first three productions, he revised the overture. The fourth time, he rewrote it completely, including no musical material from the opera. It is this final overture that the PSO will perform. (On March 22, they will perform the third.)

Beethoven’s Violin Concerto was composed for violinist Franz Clement, who was known as a showy virtuoso. Beethoven did not write cadenzas for Clement to play at the premiere (which Beethoven conducted), but he did write them when he transformed the piece into a piano concerto a year later. This concerto is a staple in any virtuoso violinist’s repertory, and Stephanie Chase is certainly a virtuoso. She’s soloed with the best orchestras, toured the globe, played Carnegie Hall, and won the Tchaikovsky Competition. Now teaching in New York and hailed as a violin pedagogue, Chase is giving a master class which is not to be missed.

And last on the program is the "Eroica" symphony. While most composers get a few pages, if that, in the standard music history text by Grout, Beethoven gets an entire chapter, and five pages are dedicated to his third symphony alone. It is a beast of a piece, gorgeous and monumental from beginning to end.

No one could argue the value of performing Beethoven. Make toasts and drink champagne, let’s celebrate. I hope the well versed classical music listeners will enjoy hearing these classics.

Becca DeWan can be reached at beccadewan@mac.com

The Portland Symphony Orchestra performs "Beethoven the Revolutionary," at Merrill Auditorium, in Portland, on Tuesday, March 1. Call (207) 842-0800. For more Beethoven events, see www.portlandsymphony.com