The ebb and flow of RISE

Our greatest glory isnot in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. — Confucius

This ancient line, spoken over 2,500 years ago, took root in the mind of musician Ganesh B Kumar on an ordinary day in Chennai. He wasn’t searching for inspiration. “I just chanced upon it,” he says. “Suddenly, it struck me. I don’t know how, but it felt like it was meant for Beethoven, as if Confucius had written it for him thousands of years before he was born.”

This moment of resonance between a Chinese philosopher and a German composer grew into RISE: Symphony No. 1 in D minor, Ganesh’s debut orchestral work. This symphony will have its world premiere in Budapest, Hungary, in the grand Ceremonial Hall of the Pesti Vigadó, conducted by Viennese maestro Anthony Armore and performed by the celebrated Budapest Symphony Orchestra on April 27.

“I’m absolutely humbled to be premiered alongside the legends of classical music. It is anybody’s dream, you see?,” he says. For Ganesh, who holds a rare dual licentiate in both performance and theory from Trinity College of Music, London, this premiere isn’t just a personal achievement. It’s a culmination of history, of introspection, and of a long, winding creative process that began in 2018 and weathered the storms of a global pandemic.

The birth of RISE

The heartbeat of RISE — and its namesake — isn’t just about Beethoven’s music, but about his resilience. “Everyone remembers the ta-ta-ta-ta — Beethoven’s Fifth,” Ganesh says. “That’s a falling third. But I turned it into ascending fifths. That’s the grip with which he encountered the tragedies. Ascending fifths always pronounce an onward march.”

In Ganesh’s hands, this iconic motif becomes a symbol of refusal to yield. It opens the symphony not with despair, but with strength. “I’ve always adored Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart,” he says.

“But Beethoven — his life — was the embodiment of Confucius’s words. That’s what moved me.”

The second movement of the symphony is titled Introspection. “Beethoven didn’t just go deaf,” Ganesh explains. “He had more than a dozen ailments. People forget that. They ask, ‘How did he still write music?’ That is the introspection. To suffer like that… and still create… it makes you reflect on your own place in the world.”

Composed for a 91-piece orchestra — a size Ganesh calls “humongous even by Western standards” — the work was written with great ambition and attention to tradition. It features full woodwinds, brass, percussion, piano, harp, and a massive string section. “This is a full-size orchestra,” he notes.

But the road to this premiere was far from linear. The piece was written in 2018, recorded the following year in Germany, and set for release in 2020 — just as the pandemic silenced stages worldwide. “Believe me, when I composed it, I had no idea that 2020 would be the 250th year of Beethoven’s birth. Or the 75th year since the Nazis surrendered to the Allies. None of it was planned. It just happened. God’s hand, maybe,” shares Ganesh.

What was planned, initially, was a premiere in Poland, at a concert hall near the Russian border. That fell through as the world shut down. “They said, let’s not wait. This is something beyond us. Let it be released now,” he says. And it was released, virtually.

The ongoing journey

Now, five years later, RISE will finally reach a live audience. It’s fitting that it arrives in spring, during Budapest’s annual Spring Festival, a season of rebirth. “What else can we expect there? A debut composer, selected for such a grand concert, on the banks of the Danube, in one of the most prestigious halls,” he says.

Though his name may now be linked with grand concert halls, Ganesh’s beginnings were far more intimate. “From my second or third standard, I was drawn towards music,” he recalls. His grandfather encouraged the spark. “He used to give me an instrument every time I passed the year.” The first was a mouth organ. “I had to compose my own tune when I was in the second standard. That was my first.” Radio also played a formative role. Ganesh grew up listening to choral music, Western classical broadcasts, and golden-era Hindi and Tamil songs.

So perhaps it’s only fitting that the final note of RISE — this symphony rooted in history, hardship, and hope — comes not from the grandeur of Western tradition alone, but from the quiet beginnings of a young boy in Chennai, holding a mouth organ, listening to the world, and hearing in it…music.