The Richard and Helen Brodbeck Concert Hall was filled with the music of Beethoven as music professor Eugene Alcalay performed at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday.

Alcalay played “33 Variations on a Waltz,” by A. Diabelli. Even Alcalay was surprised, “That was a really good crowd,” he remarked after his performance.

Photograph by Stephanie Coren
UW-Platteville music professor Eugene Alcalay played the music of Beethoven on Sept. 17 in the CFA. He’s set to perform Beethoven’s work in Trafalgar Square in London next year.

Alcalay’s choice of “33 Variations on a Waltz,” by A. Diabelli is 33 short excerpts from Beethoven’s work.

“It’s so hard to remember the order of the variations,” Alcalay said about the first part of the concert. “How they begin and where they transition is difficult, it’s a challenge.”

“He really got into it by showing the emotions,” Rose Kopecky, a freshman environmental engineer major, said after the show.

The second piece chosen to be performed was “Five Variations on Rule Britannia.” Alcalay said that Beethoven wrote this late in his life when he was “very pro-British.” He told the audience that he learned this piece for his British wife.

Alcalay then finished the concert with “Six Bagatelles,” composed in Beethoven’s last years.

“I love playing Beethoven’s late work because you don’t get to hear it as often,” Alcalay said.

Two local women, Lynn Dew and Joyce Wisnewski, had wonderful things to say about Alcalay’s concert; “Astonishing! Amazingly good!”

“Eugene Alcalay is so gifted and brilliant. I am bothered by the fact that more people from town don’t come to enjoy his music here on campus,” said Wisnewski.

“Terrific, an amazing player, a master. It is an honor to have him on campus,” said David Rowley, associate professor of history. Rowley had checked online prior to the recital to see what Alcalay would be playing for the evening. While glancing through the information, he stumbled upon the excellent reviews from his performances in London.

Alcalay will perform for the Beethoven Society at St. Martin-in-the-Fields Theatre in Trafalgar Square, London next year.