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Beethoven: Symphony No. 9, 'Choral'

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Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 -1827) Symphony No.9 in D minor, Op. 125 'Choral' Beethoven wrote nine symphonies, the first heralding the new century, in...

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Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 -1827)

Symphony No.9 in D minor, Op. 125 'Choral'

Beethoven wrote nine symphonies, the first heralding the new century, in

1800, and the last completed in 1824. Although he made few changes to the composition of the orchestra itself, adding, when occasion demanded, one or two instruments more normally found in the opera-house, he expanded vastly the traditional form, developed in the time of Haydn and Mozart, reflecting the personal and political struggles of a period of immense change and turbulence.

To his contemporaries he seemed an inimitable original, but to a number of his successors he seemed to have expanded the symphony to an intimidating extent.

In March, 1824, Beethoven completed his ninth symphony, a work that

summarises much of his achievement, but was, of course, not intended as a final symphonic statement. Plans for a tenth symphony had been sketched before the composer's death in 1827 and the first movement of this projected symphony has recently been reconstructed.

Throughout his life Beethoven had shown a deep interest in the work of Schiller, the former army doctor who had become one of the leading writers of the German classical period. In particular the Ode to Joy, with its message of universal brotherhood, had been set to music by him in the 1790s, although the setting is now lost. It was this poem that was to provide the text for the great finale of the last symphony.

The idea of introducing voices into a symphony was one that had been in Beethoven's mind for some time. He had written his Choral Fantasia, a kind of piano concerto with voices, in 1808, and had always shown a considerable interest, in any case, in the composition of songs, an element in his work that is often underestimated. By 1818 he was planning a choral symphony making use of what he described as a pious song in the ancient modes as an introduction to a fugue, a celebration of the feast of Bacchus. In the 1820s this was to become the recitative and the stirring setting of An die Freude in the last movement of the Choral Symphony.

The first performance of the Symphony in D minor, Opus 125, took place at the

Karntnertor Theatre on 7th May, 1824, after a great deal of wrangling over the whole matter, and was a tremendous success with a public that Beethoven thought he had lost to Rossini. The composer, too deaf to direct the performance, indicated the tempi of each movement, the real conductor Umlauf having instructed singers and players to pay no attention to Beethoven, who could hear nothing of the proceedings. The work is scored for pairs of flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, trumpets and drums, with four French horns and the usual strings, to which the composer added three trombones, a double bassoon, a piccolo, triangle, cymbals and bass drum. The symphony was commissioned and paid for by the Philharmonic Society of London, but was dedicated by Beethoven to the King of Prussia, Friedrich Wilhelm III.

The last movement provides a necessary link between the purely instrumental world of the rest of the symphony and the great setting of Schiller's words. There is an abrupt outburst from the orchestra, now joined by the double bassoon, followed at once by a baritone recitative, an abjuration of orchestral convention and an exhortation to sing a song of joy. This is followed by the famous theme, in fact structurally the principal theme of a rondo, that is to be varied in so many ways. The baritone is joined by the chorus and then by the other three soloists in its declaration of human brotherhood.

Disc 1

Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, "Choral"

(more info)

Performed by: Chambre Philharmonique, La Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Nicolaus Esterhazy Sinfonia Saarbrucken Radio Symphony Orchestra Bayreuth Festival Orchestra London Philharmonic Orchestra NBC Symphony Orchestra Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra Berlin State Opera Orchestra Dresden Staatskapelle Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra Royal Flemish Philharmonic Orchestra Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra Neue Orchester Ensemble Orchestral de Paris
Composed by: Stanislaw Skrowaczewski Rene Leibowitz Ludwig van Beethoven Arturo Toscanini
Conducted by: Klaus Tennstedt Karl Bohm Oskar Fried Bela Drahos Richard Edlinger John Nelson Carl Schuricht Wilhelm Furtwangler Felix Weingartner Herbert Blomstedt Emmanuel Krivine Philippe Herreweghe Herbert Kegel Christoph Spering
Guylaine Girard, soprano
Daniela Sindram, alto
Inge Borkh, bass
Sinead Mulhern, soprano
Robert Holzer, bass-baritone
Hao Jiang Tian, bass
Torsten Ralf, tenor
Margarete Teschemacher, soprano
Kolos Kovats, bass
Luise Helletsgruber, soprano
Ruth Siewert, contralto
Ruxandra Donose, mezzo-soprano
Friedrich von Schiller,
Manfred Fink, tenor
Claudio Otelli, bass-baritone
Rene Pape, bass
Nina Tichman, piano
Richard Mayr, bass-baritone
Gabriele Lechner, soprano
Diane Elias, contralto
Michael Pabst, tenor
Lotte Leonard, soprano
Jenny Sonnenberg, contralto
Eugene Transky, tenor
Wilhelm Guttmann, bass
Ludwig Weber, bass
Anthony Rolfe-Johnson, tenor
Otto Edelmann, bass
Hans Hopf, tenor
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, soprano
Rosette Anday, contralto
Georg Maikl, tenor
Elisabeth Hongen, contralto
Alison Hargan, soprano
Maria Kliegel, cello
Josef Herrmann, baritone
Donald Litaker,
Reiner Goldberg, tenor
Eberhard Buchner,
Dominik Wortig,
Daniel Borowski, bass
David Wilson-Johnson, bass
Jarmila Novotna, soprano
Hasmik Papian, soprano
Gerhild Romberger, alto
Marijana Mijanovic, mezzo-soprano
Konstantin Wolff, bass
Ann Murray, mezzo-soprano
Maria Stader, soprano
Marga Hoffgen, alto
Murray Dickie, tenor
Otto Wiener, bass
Edith Wiens, soprano
Ingeborg Danz, alto
Richard Lewis, tenor
Claudia Barainsky, soprano
Ray M. Wade junior, tenor
Lucia Popp, soprano
Christiane Oelze, soprano
Annette Dasch, soprano
Ute Walther, alto
Karl-Heinz Stryczek, bass
Carolin Masur, mezzo-soprano
Georg Zeppenfeld, bass
Christoph Strehl, tenor
Christian Elsner, tenor
Recording date: September 1988

I. Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso - 14:44
II. Molto vivace - 13:46
III. Adagio molto e cantabile - Andante moderato - 13:05
IV. Finale: Presto - 23:19

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Composer(s):
Beethoven, Ludwig van

Conductor(s):
Drahos, Bela

Orchestra(s):
Nicolaus Esterhazy Sinfonia

Artist(s):
Donose, Ruxandra; Fink, Manfred; Otelli, Claudio; Papian, Hasmik; Schiller, Friedrich von

Label: Naxos Classics
UPC: 730099447829
Item Number: 8553478
Release Date: May 5, 1997

Beethoven: Symphony No. 9, 'Choral'

Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 5 and 8

Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 1, 6 and 8 (Abbado) (Ntsc)

Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos. 4, 8 and 14

Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos. 17, 21, and 26

148

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