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For one thing, the Montpelier-based pianist long ago committed the iconic German composer’s sonatas, including this one, popularly known as the “Tempest,” to memory.
Then there’s the matter of Arnowitt being legally blind for most of his adult life, thanks to a condition known as retinitis pigmentosis.
“Classical pianists tend to play from memory, anyway,” Arnowitt, now in his early 50s, said last week during a telephone interview. “In my case, I had no choice. And besides, music is all about your sense of hearing and your sense of touch.”
Which makes it all the more remarkable to Arnowitt that Beethoven wrote many of his greatest works after losing his hearing — remarkable enough that at the Norwich Congregational Church next week, Arnowitt will supplement his recital with a lecture on the “sketchbooks” from which Beethoven built “Tempest” and other works.
“I have always been extremely intrigued by composers and how they make their music,” said Arnowitt, whose presentation is part of the Vermont Humanities Council’s First Wednesday series. “Of course, Beethoven is particularly fascinating, not only to musicians but to the general public. … People seem to appreciate learning more about the person and the composer’s process: ‘How do they take their sketch and decide what to keep and what to leave out?’ ‘How different was the final version from the original sketch?’ In this case, the sketches are extremely simple and, frankly, don’t sound all that interesting. I learned how he transformed this humble material.”
Arnowitt, who grew up in Greater Boston, estimates that he first heard recordings of Beethoven’s finished products on his father’s turntable around age 5. By 8, he was performing simpler pieces and looking forward to the more complex ones.
“Leonard Bernstein phrased it nicely,” Arnowitt said. “There’s a rightness to Beethoven’s music. You feel it when you listen to him. He was really the first composer who really demanded that music not be background music. He didn’t want to work for the church, or write dance music. He didn’t even really like the aristocratic system of patrons paying composers to write.”
Beethoven wrote his 32 piano sonatas between the ages of 26 and 52, which inspired Arnowitt to perform them all over the same stretch of his own life.
“I’ve been living and breathing this music for 26 years,” said Arnowitt, who uses a variety of voice, magnifying and black-and-white image-reversing technology to read everything from sheet music to correspondence. “And just as his work evolved, my style has changed, too.”
Arnowitt embarked on that journey at about the same time he moved to Vermont from New York City.
“New York City was definitely too much clamor for me, and the musicians there for the most part play very fast and edgy and loud,” Arnowitt said. “I was developing a style that was more sensitive, so I got out of Dodge.”
Before his vision took a turn for the worse, Arnowitt first encountered the more leisurely pace and feel of Vermont during a three-month bike tour of northern New England.
“The first town I went through was Wells River,” he recalled. “It was the second week of May, and going through Orange County then was a revelation. With all the forms of green in the landscape, it became my favorite time of year. After that trip, I said that someday I would move to Vermont.
“It’s been a good home for my music career.”
Pianist Michael Arnowitt performs works of Beethoven and talks about the composer’s creative process at the Norwich Congregational Church on Wednesday night at 7. Admission is free. To learn more, visit vermonthumanities.org or call 802-649-1184. For more information about Arnowitt, visit MAPiano.com.
If you haven’t already reserved a seat for Vance Gilbert’s concert tonight at the Flying Goose Brewpub and Grille in New London, better call now: With his blend of insight, humor and sheer vocal power, this force of nature and nurture tends to sell out the venue fast. The music begins at 8, while the room opens at 6 for anyone planning to dine before the show. To order tickets ($25) call 603-526-6899. To learn about the venue’s fall music series, visit flyinggoose.com.
On a swing back through the Upper Valley from his new base in Nashville, Enfield-raised singer-songwriter Brooks Hubbard appears at Bentley’s restaurant in Woodstock tonight at 8 and at Salt hill Pub in Newport on Friday night at 9.
Vermont singer-composer Anais Mitchell commands the microphone at the Skinny Pancake in Hanover tonight at 7:30; admission is $15, plus a handling fee. And on Friday night at 8, the venue hosts a stand-up comedy show, with Josh Starr as headliner of a parade that includes Nicole Sisk, Corey Flynn and Chad Blodgett. To reserve tickets and learn more about the Mitchell concert, visit skinnypancake.com/location/hanover-nh-3/ or call 603-277-9115. For more information about the comedy show, visit Woolen Mill Comedy Club on Facebook.
The North Country Chamber Players perform works of Robert Livingston Aldridge, Carl Maria von Weber and Beethoven during their “Harvest Notes Concert” at Alumni Hall in Haverhill on Friday afternoon at 1:30. Admission is free. To learn more, visit alumnihall.org or call 603-989-5500.
Roots singer-composer Martha Redbone returns to the Hopkins Center in Hanover on Friday night with “Bone Hill: The Concert,” a blend of rhythms and stories from her Native American, African-American and Appalachian heritage. An American Sign Language interpreter will accompany the presentation. The performance begins at 8. For tickets ($17 to $25) and more information, visit hop.dartmouth.edu or call 603-646-2422.
Bow Thayer’s band and South Newbury, Vt., fiddler Patrick Ross’ ensemble Hot Flannel headline a Sunday afternoon festival benefiting the Northeast Slopes ski area in East Corinth. Other groups performing at the festival, on the grounds of the ski area between noon and 7, include Hi-Way 5, the Bayley-Hazen Boys and the Stovepipe Mountain Band. Proceeds from the admission of $6 for kids and $15 for adults go toward children’s programs at the ski area. To learn more, visit northeastslopes.org.
Upper Valley International Folk Dance is inviting dancers of all ages and abilities to its monthly gathering, on Sunday afternoon from 3 to 6 at Damon Hall in Hartland. Admission is $4 for students and newcomers and $8 for others. All dancers must bring clean, soft-soled shoes. To learn more, email barthoj@vermontel.net or call 802-436-2151 or visit Upper Valley International Folk Dance on Facebook.
Flutist Leslie Stroud and pianist Matthew Odell collaborate on “A Paris Afternoon in Woodstock” on Sunday afternoon at 4, performing chamber works of Albert Roussel, Michael Merlet, Francis Poulenc, Olivier Messiaen and Cesar Franck at the North Universalist Chapel. Admission is free.
The Classic Repertory Company of Cambridge, Mass., performs an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet at the Chandler Music Hall in Randolph next Thursday morning at 10. Admission is $6. The presentation includes a study guide for school groups and a discussion after the show. To learn more, visit chandler-arts.org or call 802-728-6464.
Clarinetist Steve Loew joins Classicopia pianist Daniel Weiser for two concerts of “Jewish Jazz” in the Upper Valley over Columbus Day weekend. Performances exploring the connections between jazz and the Klezmer style of Jewish folk music are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 7 at the First Congregational Church of Lebanon and for 4 p.m. on Oct. 9 at Dartmouth College’s Roth Center for Jewish Life in Hanover. Admission to both concerts is $15 for members of the host houses of worship and $20 for others. To reserve discounted tickets and learn more, visit classicopia.org.
Northern Stage opens its 2016-2017 season this week, with preview performances tonight and Friday night at 7:30 of its adaptation of Macbeth at the Barrette Center for the Arts in White River Junction. Under the direction of Stephen Brown-Fried, the staging officially opens Saturday night at 7:30, followed over the coming week with shows on Sunday afternoon at 5, Tuesday night at 7:30 (at the discount price of $20 a ticket), Wednesday morning at 10 and Wednesday night at 7:30. This adaptation of what superstitious Shakespeareans refer to aloud only as “The Scottish play” in the 400th-anniversary year of The Bard’s death runs through Oct. 23. For tickets ($30) and more information about this adaptation and about the coming season, visit northernstage.org or call 802-296-7000.
Previewing their Christmas Revels show, performers from Revels North demonstrate traditional Quebecois dance and music during free HopStop family shows on Saturday morning at 11 at Dartmouth College’s Alumni Hall and on Saturday afternoon at 3 in the Claremont Savings Bank Community Center. To learn more, visit hop.dartmouth.edu or revelsnorth.org.
Folk-rocker Spencer Lewis performs at Colburn Park in Lebanon from 4 to 7 this afternoon, during the final outdoor Lebanon Farmers Market of the season.
Singer-songwriter Leyeux, aka Jack Snyder, serenades the Feast and Field Market in Barnard tonight from 5:30 to 7:30.
On its Made in Vermont Tour, the Vermont Symphony Orchestra introduces Norwich-born composer Zach Sheets’ in clarion fields at 7:30 tonight at Lyndon State College and at 7:30 Friday night at Brattleboro’s Latchis Theater. The performances, with Anthony Princiotti conducting, also will explore works of Mozart, Copland and Borodin. For tickets ($10 to $25) and more information, visit vso.org or call 802-864-5109.
Note by note, costume by costume and haircut by haircut, Hard Day’s Night pays homage to the Beatles on Saturday night at 7:30 at the Chandler Music Hall in Randolph. For tickets ($10 to $35) and more information, visit chandler-arts.org or call 802-728-6464.
On the topic of “Teaching the Eye to Hear,” pianist Chris Bakriges and bassist Shigefumi Tomita play music inspired by Impressionist painter Henri Matisse, at the ArtisTree Community Arts Center in South Pomfret on Sunday afternoon at 4. For tickets ($20) and more information, visit artistreevt.org or call 802-457-3500.
Hayley Jane and the Primates open the fall music series at the Hartness House Inn and Tavern in Springfield, Vt., tonight at 6.
With accompanists Bob Merrill on piano and Peter Concilio on upright bass, Cyn Barrette sings jazz at the Canoe Club in Hanover at 6:30 tonight. Following the ensemble to the microphone over the coming week with shows from 6:30 to 9:30 are pianist Will Ogmundson on Friday, acoustic-music chameleon Joseph Stallsmith on Saturday and Tuesday, Party Crashers members Katie Runde (saxophone, flute, bass clarinet) and Ted Mortimer (guitar) on Sunday and pianist Randall Mullen on Wednesday. On Monday night between 5:30 and 8:30, Marko the Magician performs his weekly sleight-of-hand.
Still Hill pulls into Windsor Station to play an acoustic set tonight at 7. Following the string quintet to the venue over the coming week are The Pilgrims and Faux in Love on Friday night at 10, ToasT on Saturday night at 9:30 and singer-songwriter Jake Haehnel on Tuesday night at 6.
The folk/rock duo Second Wind performs at the tavern at Jesse’s in Hanover on Friday night at 5.
Singer-guitarist David Greenfield appears at the Colatina Exit in Bradford on Friday night from 7 to 10.
Folk composer and multi-instrumentalist Harvey Reed sings and plays at the Sunapee Community Coffeehouse on Friday night at 7.
Sensible Shoes plays at The Public House in Quechee on Friday night at 7. For reservations, call 802-295-8500.
The Strangled Darlings perform their “Americana doom pop” at the BoHo Cafe in White River Junction on Friday night at 7:30.
The Stockwell Brothers play bluegrass on Friday night at 9 at Skunk Hollow Tavern in Hartland Four Corners.
The Friday night lineups at the Upper Valley’s Salt hill Pubs features Hammond organist Tom Caselli and his B-3 Brotherhood performing a set of blues, funk and soul in Lebanon, and singer-songwriter Jim Hollis in Hanover. Both shows start at 9.
Bow Thayer performs his weekly set of Americana at the Skinny Pancake in Hanover on Wednesday night starting at 7:30.
Jim Yeager hosts the final open mic of September at the ArtisTree Community Arts Center in South Pomfret tonight from 7 to 9. Singers as well as instrumentalists are welcome. While admission is free, donations are appreciated. For more information, visit artistreevt.org.
Ramunto’s Brick & Brew Pizza in Bridgewater hosts an open mic starting at 7:30 p.m. on Thursdays. Participants get a free large cheese pizza.
String players of all ages and abilities are welcome at the weekly acoustic jam session at South Royalton’s BALE Commons on Friday night from 6:30 to 10.
Joe Stallsmith leads a weekly hootenanny of Americana, folk and bluegrass at Salt hill Pub in Hanover on Monday nights at 6.
Bradford’s Colatina Exit holds an open mic on Tuesday nights at 8
The Seven Barrel Brewery in West Lebanon runs an open mic on Tuesday nights, beginning at 8.
Jim Yeager hosts an open mic at Hartland’s Skunk Hollow Tavern, at 8:30 on Wednesday nights.
David Corriveau can be reached at dcorriveau@vnews.com and at 603-727-3304.