Prom 18 (27.7.12): Beethoven Cycle – Symphony No. 9, 'Choral'

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Friday 27 July at 6.30 p.m.
Royal Albert Hall

Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D minor, 'Choral' (77 mins)

Anna Samuil soprano
Waltraud Meier mezzo-soprano
Peter Seiffert tenor
René Pape bass
National Youth Choir of Great Britain
West–Eastern Divan Orchestra
Daniel Barenboim conductor

As the Olympic Games open in London, Daniel Barenboim and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra reach the climax of their Beethoven Cycle with the iconic Ninth Symphony - a hymn to universal brotherhood.

An impressive team of soloists joins the orchestra and the National Youth Choir of Great Britain to project the finale's epic vision of hope, reconciliation and triumph. A fitting way to mark this historic day.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I've opened this one a day early in the hope that discussion of this work can find an approprate home.

(Wot? No Boulez?)

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I've opened this one a day early in the hope that discussion of this work can find an approprate home.

Isn't the Finale sublime? The perfect ending to a magnificent work IMO.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I think so too, though it's very difficult to be entirely objective with a work we have known so well and for so long.

[Bryn]

Isn't the Finale sublime? The perfect ending to a magnificent work IMO.

Spot on. For several years, all I knew of the Ninth was the final movement (it was the coupling for the 5th (both conducted by Schuricht), on the one Beethoven LP my father had). When I finally got to hear the preceding three movements (Munch) the context made that final movement even more enticing for me. Lots of good jokes, as well as good humour. I love the way Norrington, for instance, hams up the village band episode.

[Ariosto]

It is for me a great work. Hard to bring off, but a work of great genius. Can't add anything to that.

[Petrushka]

Wot? No Boulez?

Your comment might be slightly tongue in cheek but, no Boulez indeed. The seven Notations would have been perfect.

[Vile Consort]

Isn't the Finale sublime? The perfect ending to a magnificent work IMO.

I am afraid I find the last movement unbearable!

By the same token, however, it's an ideal way of marking the inauguration of something else I find intolerable.

[jayne lee wilson]

Vide my msg 84 in the Prom 9, LVB Symphonies 1&2 thread, but just to lift my weary fingers (from the washing-up) once again, here's Robert Simpson's description of the 9th's finale:

"The last movement of the 9th is an organic blend of variations and sonata, with both introduction and symphonic coda, and not without a suggestion of rondo. Structurally it is a summing-up of classical possibilities, all expressed in a single huge design with astonishing certainty of touch [...] as if Beethoven, like Bach in The Art of Fugue, were intent on encompassing everything he knew in one mighty act."

Why do I do this now, defending and justifying one of Beethoven's greatest creations? Because this music, and many other works of his, has given me joy and consolation; because we are aware of the suffering through which the composer struggled as he sought to refine and define his creations; and because the sheer emotional blatancy of the 9th's finale, before and beyond its fluid formal ingenuity, seems to remain fresh and controversial nearly 200 years after it shocked its first audiences...

[Vile Consort]

It's not the form of the movement I have a problem with - it's the wobbling soloists and the shrieking sopranos that make my stomach churn.

Mind you, I get the same feeling with orchestral masses from the same period. Unfortunately, that puts the main service at any catherdal on any major feast out of bounds for me.

[BBMmk2]

Will the NYCoGB be up to the task?

[EdgeleyRob]

"The last movement of the 9th is an organic blend of variations and sonata, with both introduction and symphonic coda, and not without a suggestion of rondo. Structurally it is a summing-up of classical possibilities, all expressed in a single huge design with astonishing certainty of touch [...] as if Beethoven, like Bach in The Art of Fugue, were intent on encompassing everything he knew in one mighty act."

It's great until the singing starts.

[Flosshilde]

Presumably it's on an hour early (& a shorter than usual programme) so that the audience can then rush across London (using the Proms Priority traffic lanes) in time for the opening ceremony of the Security Games.

[3rd Viennese School]

I've never heard Beethoven 9 on Performance on 3 but have heard the others. So was looking forward to hearing this on Friday.

But it starts 630pm! Far too early!!

And its not on TV until Saturday (Im always out all day/night on Saturday!) Had it been on TV Friday nt I could have watched it!

all cause of the Olymics!!



And I can't put my bike on ANY train ANYWHERE in those five weeks either!!!



Roll on Mid September!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

The only reservation I have about the finale - and it's only a tiny niggle - is the over-elaborate vocal counterpoint for the soloists. I've bever heard anyone else mention this, so I'm probably in the minority.