Prom 21 - 30.07.17: Beethoven – Symphony No. 9, ‘Choral’
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Originally posted by maestro267 View PostRemember the days when Beethoven 9 was just about the music? Before people decided that politics had to be brought into absolutely everything in life?[FONT=Comic Sans MS][I][B]Numquam Satis![/B][/I][/FONT]
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Originally posted by ferneyhoughgeliebte View PostWere there ever such "days" with regard to this work? Wasn't the choice of text a deliberately political "statement" by the composer in Metternich's Vienna?
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I remember when I was about fifteen and heard Colin Davis conducting the 9th at the proms. I was ecstatic and came home wildly proclaiming that this was surely the greatest performance of the greatest work. The next day, my father read me Peter Stadlen's review in the Daily Telegraph. Alas, the performance had not been, after all, so great. 'Colin Davis is too young yet to give us his Beethoven interpretations,' said Mr Stadlen (or words to that effect). Of course Peter Stadlen was right and now I am older and have learnt also how to be critical and discern nuance and appreciate what makes for a truly great realisation of a piece of music. These days I can be deeply moved on hearing, say Klemperer conduct Mahler, or Brendel play Schubert; but, gosh, it would be so good to experience again that intensity of emotion when one just loves a piece of music regardless of how it is performed.
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Originally posted by Bella Kemp View PostI remember when I was about fifteen and heard Colin Davis conducting the 9th at the proms. I was ecstatic and came home wildly proclaiming that this was surely the greatest performance of the greatest work. The next day, my father read me Peter Stadlen's review in the Daily Telegraph. Alas, the performance had not been, after all, so great. 'Colin Davis is too young yet to give us his Beethoven interpretations,' said Mr Stadlen (or words to that effect). Of course Peter Stadlen was right and now I am older and have learnt also how to be critical and discern nuance and appreciate what makes for a truly great realisation of a piece of music. These days I can be deeply moved on hearing, say Klemperer conduct Mahler, or Brendel play Schubert; but, gosh, it would be so good to experience again that intensity of emotion when one just loves a piece of music regardless of how it is performed.
And fashions change, but I'll make a quiet retreat...
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Originally posted by Prommer View PostEasier to view a work in this way by reference to events of the composer's time than by linking it to a later, specific political construct from which it is separated by hundreds of years.[FONT=Comic Sans MS][I][B]Numquam Satis![/B][/I][/FONT]
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Originally posted by ferneyhoughgeliebte View PostYes; I can see that there will be people who see it - and prefer to hear it - in this way. (Personally, I think it rather diminishes a work's significance if it can only be referenced in this way; in a not dissimilar way to how Shakespeare's history plays are lousy history, but astonishing psychological portrayals of the political mind.) Nonetheless, it is true to state that there never was a time when this work was ever "just about the Music" as the maestro seemed to be suggesting.
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Originally posted by edashtav View Post[Petty] human politics are universal and an integral part of Beethoven's vision.[FONT=Comic Sans MS][I][B]Numquam Satis![/B][/I][/FONT]
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Originally posted by maestro267 View PostBut a work as universal as Beethoven 9 should transcend petty human politics.
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