Three Questions for Hendrik Meyer
What motivated you to initiate the 2026 tour project with a fictitiously living Ludwig van Beethoven?
It is not Frank's first idea that I have helped to build and implement. Nor his second, third, or fourth. Our first joint projects date back almost to the last millennium. At the end of the day, he always comes around with a new idea, initially always paired with a (mostly) extremely long and detailed telephone presentation and explanation of the project, many justifications, and justifications of his justifications. Frank is a visionary, driven by persistence and implementation power, until a visionbecomes a schedule. The tour project is a really exciting venture where I see many professional and personal points of contact. And usually, you are not just involved, but right in the middle of it. I am happy as a 'travel cadre'!
If Beethoven were sitting across from you: What topics would you discuss? What questions would you ask?
It is early morning. The finest coffee is served, which we both declare existential for us. We quickly delve deeply into the topic of composing. Traditional composing means creating works along with orchestration from purely mental fragments. Putting notes into the score is then just a matter of diligence and form.
I'm interested in how and when you decide what will become of your 'head' sketches - does a melancholic phrase perhaps even become a major development?
The eraser is the most useful tool of a composer. What do you omit in the creation phase and finally, and why?
And pauses. Pauses are almost the strongest means dramaturgically: When and why do you decide whether it should be a sudden general pause abyss or just an effect or a separation?
And then, in the end: Where have you (not so obviously) most cleverly recycled yourself and reprocessed and repackaged this material? Exciting!
If you had to decide which three works by Beethoven rank highest in your ranking - how would you answer?
I hated Beethoven. When a music teacher - like in elementary school - forced feelings for and to music ("Fate knocks on the door.") on me, he was done, and the work along with the composer as well. At the age of 10, I studied works by Bruckner, soon after Strauss, Mahler, Pfitzner and Ernst Kurth's book "The Creative Counterpoint", including first self-attempts. Beethoven was out. Only at the age of 14 did I encounter him again with the Egmont Overture as a musician in the GDR selection orchestra. Admittedly: My fascination formasterful craftsmanship, great themes and most nuanced orchestrations, for example like those of the great tone poems by Richard Strauss, applies to late Romanticism. To this day, it is the tonal-stylistic model for highly endowed and award-winning film music compositions, which I also occasionally "consult" as an inspiration for film scores.
Fantasy for Piano, Choir, and Orchestra in C minor, Op. 80
What a stroke of genius: It is undoubtedly the public dress rehearsal for the Ninth, almost completely composed and orchestrated. With influences from his 'Missa solemnis', the path was clear to his last completed symphony.
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37
For a recording with Alfred Brendel, I was professionally engaged quite intensively with this concerto. Yes, it is a true Beethoven, although Mozart mischievously peeks around the corner here and there.
Leonore Overture No. 3 in C major, Op. 72b
Beethoven as a lesson for future composers? Motivic condensation, large arcs of tension, and an almost operatic musical, wordless staging foreshadow the work of Strauss & Co.