Ming Liu and Shao Lu (14 October concert)
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.