Project Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4

Selected by Jury

Aleck Rodriguez Bogaert
Acrylic on canvas | $600

Through this piece, I sought to convey the feeling of “highs” and “lows” that Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 gave me. There were moments of tension mixed with moments of brevity. In my piece, one sheep is on high ground, safe and at peace. The others are low, afraid of the coming waves. Both the terrain they stand on and their emotions rise and fall. Additionally, the color palette is a mix between high key and low key in certain places, and the expressive mark making served to make my piece feel as dynamic as the music did to me.

Connie Cao
Digital | $150

While listening to the piece, I was imagining a musical universe of one particular fast-legged, long-eared creature. The interactions between the bunnies express the relationship between the piano and orchestra. What is created is an intertwining, resonating galaxy.

Eve Conant
Graphite | $700

A Symphony of Mice: The first movement of the piano's solo performance recalls the soft yet juvenile sound of pitter-patter-like footsteps rattling inside the piano. The Concerto No. 4 uses the fortepiano from the 18th century to implement the instrument's finely bound mechanisms. It brings to life the subtle action of the sound, and it inspires the idea of a world inside the piano. An orchestra of little mice playing a symphony.

Naomi DeMauro
Digital | $125

My work is mainly inspired by romance, comics, art nouveau, and historical fashion. I primarily work digitally and enjoy illustrating narratives with lots of flowing, intricate details.

To me, the orchestra performance of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 is like a magic spell that transports modern audiences back to the past. This classic music draws raw emotion from listeners' hearts and allows stories to bloom in their imagination. Using modern technology, I wanted to capture this classic, whimsical feeling in a digital illustration. A modern woman sits as an equal among a transformed audience of historically dressed, wealthy orchestra goers; her heart resonating to the same music that graced their ears so many years ago. The story it inspires in her head dances along a flowing line of the concerto’s sheet music, and connects her to her peers through this shared experience. It is thanks to this powerful performance and the Handel and Haydn Society that local communities and students like me are allowed to join the elegant audience of 1808, and connect with them across time.

Caitlyn Doucette
Digital | $200

Similar to Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4, my body of work is an indistinct narrative in a literal sense. Instead, the visuals accentuate the present emotions the music evokes from the audience. The rich colors exemplify the imaginative nature of the Concerto while the figures represent the experience of the audience. The solo piano at the start of the Concerto is represented by the figure suspended in obscurity, rising and falling along with the musical narrative.

Cassius Hawke
Oil paints | $650

Inspired by the motion in the music, I envisioned a scene of two lovers on the run. I imagined two people falling in love and running away together in the first act of the concerto. The orchestra played the role of the surrounding cast; they taunted, judged, or supported the lovers. Sometimes the orchestra even echoed the protagonist's own anxieties back to them. Suddenly in act two they were tragically torn apart, and we sat with the protagonist's grief, only to be joyously reunited in the last act. I tried to embody in this painting the frantic desperation of new love and loss that I hear in the concerto.

Madeleine Levesque
Ink and digital | $500

I work in traditional media. My curiosity lies in intimate nostalgia. Classical composers have been an integral part of my adolescence. I began playing piano and flute at age 6 and 10. My grandfather's favorite was Piano Concerto No. 5 (Emperor) which would echo through their house as my grandmother and I would dance. Piano Concerto No. 4 reminds me of this time. Produced in Vienna, Austria, the buildings reflect that time period. Musical moments of turmoil shown through micron pen, gentle mark-making as love. My childhood showcased through Beethoven.

Penelope McDonald
Watercolor and gouache | $250

Reflecting the flow that Piano Concerto No. 4 follows–from an upbeat performance to a more somber piece that, ultimately, turns around and becomes bright once again–this watercolor painting depicts an artist bringing the bright colors of the outside world into his home through painting. The desaturated tones of hard objects in the interior are contrasted by the more vivid greens that spill in and flow smoothly from the outside world. The complex emotions from Beethoven’s composition are reflected through the juxtaposition of these different elements within the same painting.

Cheyenne Montville
Digital | $300

In creating my illustration on Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4, I wanted to convey the possible emotions he felt when creating this piece. I depicted Beethoven sitting at his piano, mid piece, intensely focused yet with a sense of calm as the keys light up under his gentle touch. The piano takes on a surreal nature as it stretches into the foreground, figuratively showing the journey one's emotions are taken on during the concerto.

Ivy Nelson
Digital | $400

When listening to Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4, I was inspired by the second movement, and how through the different instruments alternating, a conversation forms. This conversation is between gentleness and harshness, between the comforting and the intense. In my piece, a digital illustration, I reflected on nature and was reminded of this dichotomy. My entire life I have lived in Boston, and finding a quiet, natural escape from the intensity of the city can be a challenge. Depicted is the duality of my home: bright skyscrapers and the tranquility of nature.

Juana Rodriguez
Digital | $275

Piano Concerto No. 4 by Ludwig van Beethoven illustrates a vibrant picture to me. In creating this digitally, I wanted to utilize a fantastical color scheme, doing the best I could to emulate a dreamscape-like environment. The dialogue between the piano and the orchestra arise pictures of tranquility and impending chaos; almost as if both elements cannot exist without each other's presence. The piano in the concerto made me think of prancing hooves, almost like a flock of sheep, while the orchestra in tandem with the piano gave off the energy of an impending danger. Not necessarily full-on danger itself, rather a looming presence, like the wolf watching over a flock of sheep. Whether it's harmful or just a scary, whimsical presence is similar to how I felt about the orchestral segments of Concerto No. 4.

Olivia Yohannon
Digital | $250

This piece is entirely rendered in digital medium, using techniques to mimic pastel textures. I wanted to explore movement through lines, taking inspiration from the effortless language that neolithic cave paintings represented with a more modern take. My intention with this style was to represent a need of returning to nature even with the use of technology, binding the two words together. The music of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 felt like the running and migration of animals, flowing in predictable yet natural formations, evoking a heavy feeling of flowing water.