In his 14 seasons as concertmaster of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, David Coucheron has performed Beethoven’s music more times than he can remember. But ask about his first experience with the composer’s symphonies, and the memory comes easily.

There he is, a young violinist studying at the Curtis Institute of Music, together with his peers trying to make sense of the lesser-known Symphony No. 1. Student conductors each took a turn leading the orchestra; one after the other stepped down from the podium defeated by the composer’s demands. The conductors kept running into a bit of trouble with the opening, which begins where most music ends: a perfect cadence.

“I don’t remember us getting past the first few lines,” he admits. “It’s a very tricky symphony to conduct; actually, they all are.”

Coucheron and the rest of the ASO will get another crack at Beethoven’s first symphony this spring during the ASO’s immersive Beethoven Project. Between now and May, music director Nathalie Stutzmann leads the ensemble in eight of Beethoven’s nine symphonies plus the composer’s triple concerto and the “Missa Solemnis,” featuring the ASO Chorus. (Performances of Symphony No. 9 are slated for the fall.)

Coucheron will perform the triple concerto with his sister, Julie Coucheron, on piano and the ASO’s acting/associate principal cellist Daniel Laufer. The Coucherons have performed the piece many times in the past, he said, but this is only his second performance of the work for the ASO. He last played the triple concerto in 2013 with the late cellist Christopher Rex — music director laureate Robert Spano sat in on piano with Donald Runnicles leading the ensemble.

Beethoven symphonic cycles are a significant undertaking — Stutzman calls them “a Himalaya” — but performances are not rare. During Beethoven’s 250th anniversary celebrations in 2020, New York City’s Carnegie Hall was just one of the venues around the country highlighting the composer’s music with a symphony cycle. Some presented the symphonies in order, others mixed things up a bit. Stutzmann will take the latter approach, opening the project with Symphonies 1 and 3, and ending with Symphonies 4 and 7 in the spring.

The Beethoven Project spans all but one of Stutzmann’s seven appearances with the ASO during the second half of the 2024-2025 season. While Coucheron has played Beethoven’s Symphonies 9 and 6 under Stutzmann, he’s looking forward to seeing how her approach to the music changes during the comprehensive study.

ASO Music Director Nathalie Stutzmann. Courtesy of Rand Lines

Credit: Courtesy Rand Lines

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Credit: Courtesy Rand Lines

“It’s so wonderful to be on stage with her because you can tell she has so much experience standing on the great stages of the world — she has that stage charisma you have to have as an operatic singer,” Coucheron said. “Seeing that and how she’s using that in her way of conducting, is really exciting.”

As part of his duty to prepare the orchestra, Coucheron started working toward the Beethoven projects last summer, looking through the music and planning out his approach with Stutzmann. This advanced preparation is crucial — the ensemble has a small rehearsal window before each concert — to ensure the orchestra is ready to perform its best. Musicians must come to these rehearsals knowing their parts intimately, he said; no matter how familiar the musicians are with Beethoven, that can still be a challenge.

“The symphonies are all really tricky to play if you want to do it perfectly,” Coucheron said. “If you want to do it right — there’s no escaping, there’s no hiding. So everybody has to be completely on their game every time we play.”

The Beethoven Project promises to be a good initiation for the symphony’s newest members. Lauren Roth joined the ASO as assistant concertmaster in June along with five additional musicians, moving to Atlanta from Tucson, where she served as concertmaster of the symphony. It was there that she completed a similar Beethoven symphony project to commemorate the composer’s anniversary during the 2019-2020 season. She recently played “Missa Solemnis” and performed the triple concerto as well, but knows none of the pieces will feel stale once she gets on the ASO stage.

“With a genius like Beethoven, there’s always revelation to be had from playing it, working on it, rehearsing it and performing it,” she said. “I never feel like, ‘Oh, this is going to be an easy week because I’ve performed it.’”

Playing and hearing such familiar music unlocks new concepts, she said. With each performance, she gains a deeper appreciation for Beethoven’s innovation and creativity.

“There are places in the slow movement of Beethoven 5 that give me chills no matter how many times I’ve heard them,” she said. “I just absolutely love playing the music.”

Joining an established ensemble like the ASO is never easy. During her short time in Atlanta, Roth has worked hard to blend in with the rest of the ensemble, listening intently to how the musicians play their parts.

“It’s my job, but also my privilege, to make sure I am adding to the greater whole,” she said.

The ASO Chorus joins the symphony in a performance of Beethoven's "Missa Solemnis" in May.
Contributed by Jeff Roffman
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Principal Horn Ryan Little says his favorite Beethoven is whatever one he is currently playing. When he joined the ASO for the 2022-2023 season after six years with the Naples Philharmonic in Florida, he sought out musicians who were representative of the ASO’s sound, those who upheld the history of the ensemble.

“I think it’s really important that I come in and try to follow what came before me and also really listen closely to the way my colleagues who have been here for 20, 30 years before me play … so that I’m really becoming a part of the ASO,” he said.

Little is looking forward to performing Beethoven’s symphonies, but he has his eyes set on the final Beethoven program of the spring.

“The thing I’m most excited about is the ‘Missa Solemnis’ … there’s something really special about how Nathalie works with the chorus here. There’s really a connection there,” he said, noting Stutzmann’s approach as a singer-turned conductor.

He’s also curious about how stepping into an “all-enveloping sound world of Beethoven” feels different from playing a single symphony in a one-off concert.

“Nathalie always manages to find something for me that I didn’t recognize before, or that didn’t stick out to me before,” he said. “I feel like audiences are going to hear these symphonies in a different way than they’ve heard them before.”


CONCERT PREVIEW

Beethoven Project. Presented by the ASO. Jan. 23-May 11. $29-$175. Symphony Hall, 1280 Peachtree St. NE, Atlanta. 404-733-5000, aso.org.

Symphonies 1 and 3 ― Jan. 23-25

Symphonies 2 and 5 ― Jan. 30-Feb. 2

Symphonies 6 and 8 ― Feb. 27-March 1

Symphonies 4 and 7 ― March 6-9

Triple Concerto ― April 3-4

“Missa Solemnis” ― May 8-11