IF YOU GOWhat: CSO presents Beethoven's FifthWhere: Tivoli Theatre, 709 Broad St.When: Thursday and Nov. 4, 8 p.m.Admission: $19-$79.Phone: 267-8583.Website: www.chattanoogasymphony.org.
Ask any lay person to name three composers, said Kayoko Dan, and the names that will come up will likely be Beethoven, Mozart and Bach.
The trifecta of great musical minds will be featured this Thursday and Nov. 4 by the Chattanooga Symphony & Opera.
Anchoring the performance is Ludwig von Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, perhaps the composer's most stunning and best known masterwork.
Taking on such an important piece is an intimidating, but exciting challenge, said CSO music director Dan.
"Everyone knows that piece, so it's a challenge for us to come off convincingly," she said. "and of course, everyone has an opinion of how Beethoven 5 should sound, so I hope our interpretation will be convincing for the audience, and I hope we can bring something new to the piece."
While she has listened to the piece many times, she prefers to go back to the written notes.
"A lot of the recordings from the early 20th century are rather romanticized," she said, "and Beethoven is not a romantic composer."
The challenge, she said, is to present something fresh and individualistic while remaining an "advocate of the composer."
"That's hard, being true to the score while also trying to bring a personal touch to the music"
The Beethoven work is being paired with Johann Sebastian Bach's Brandenburg Concerto, No. 5, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante.
The former is one of six concertos presented by Bach to Christian Ludwig, margrave of Brandenburg, circa 1721. According to the Kennedy Center, however, Ludwig never heard the works, and they did not, in fact, come to light until the 19th century.
"Sinfonia Concertante features several of the musicians in solos. A musical form as well as the work's title, sinfonia concertante was a classical style of playing that succeeded the Baroque "concerto grosso."
Mozart's work was composed in 1779.