BEIJING MUSIC FESTIVAL 12–14 OCTOBER 2020
Last October the 23rd Beijing Music Festival contrived both to negotiate round the pandemic and celebrate Beethoven’s 250th anniversary with 240 hours of non-stop online and live music making. It included three concerts in which ten up-and-coming violinists each performed one of Beethoven’s violin sonatas. I saw and heard them on YouTube, recorded live in front of an occasionally noisy audience. The setting was somewhat sepulchral: a black stage with a black background (save for a golden logo) with a black piano and artists clothed mostly in black. A couple of the ladies’ dresses provided the only colour.