{"id":1173,"date":"2008-09-26T06:00:12","date_gmt":"2008-09-26T13:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/?p=1173"},"modified":"2013-02-07T19:03:55","modified_gmt":"2013-02-08T03:03:55","slug":"nine-on-the-ninth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/09\/26\/nine-on-the-ninth\/","title":{"rendered":"nine on the ninth"},"content":{"rendered":"

We had our first rehearsals on Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony yesterday, and it was one of those days where I was tired from the very beginning, but I thought I could at least dredge up nine observations about this well-loved work from an insider’s perspective.\u00c2\u00a0 In the spirit of full disclosure, I cannot vouch for the veracity of these thoughts, they are just what came forth as I as pondering what to write today.<\/p>\n

1. I don’t like the “Ode to Joy” – it’s my least favorite part of this symphony.\u00c2\u00a0 Sorry.<\/p>\n

2. I love the Turkish March section of the last movement, with the off-kilter beat patterns, the silly juxtaposition of the piccolo and contrabassoon, and all the great wind writing.<\/p>\n

3. I absolutely adore the first movement – it’s so celestial in scope, you feel like you’re approaching an enormous galaxy from light-years away, and watching as its myriad details resolve themselves with the inexorable logic of the universe.<\/p>\n

4. My favorite moment in the entire piece is a simple chord in the first movement, a reprise of the opening string figures, the descending octaves which go down by fifths as they’re repeated, all in unison – then, like a powerful, brilliant pure light from very far away comes the addition of a harmony – and we have the quietly blazing key of D major.\u00c2\u00a0 It takes my breath away every time I play it.\u00c2\u00a0 Here’s a clip of this moment:<\/p>\n[audio:beethoven-clip.mp3]\n

5. The last movement of the symphony is sooo tiring – there is so much time spent playing passages that cross over most of the strings, and very loudly at the same time, plus the rigor of rhythm which is required to make the fugues come off makes it very taxing from both a physical and mental standpoint.<\/p>\n

6. Musicologist Jan Swafford has a great look at why the Ninth has kept its mystique for so long over at Slate.com<\/a> – here’s an excerpt:<\/p>\n

One reason is its mystery. Figuratively speaking, everybody knows the Ninth. But has anybody really understood it? The harder you look, the odder it gets. In a singular way, the Ninth enfolds the apparently contradictory qualities of the epic and the slippery.<\/p>\n

First movement: loud, big, heroic, no? No. Big and loud all right, also wildly unstable, searching, inconclusive\u00e2\u20ac\u201deverything heroes aren’t. The formal outline, on the surface a conventional sonata form, is turned inside-out: The development section in the middle<\/span><\/a><\/span>, usually a point of maximum tension and drama, is the relatively most placid part of the movement; the recap, the return of the opening theme and usually elaborately prepared, erupts out of calm like a scream<\/span><\/a><\/span>, with a major chord that somehow sounds hair-raising. (Major keys and harmonies being traditionally nice, hopeful, that sort of thing, minor ones darker, sadder, etc.) At the end there’s a funeral march over a slithering bass<\/span><\/a><\/span>. Beethoven wrote funeral marches earlier, one the second movement of the “Eroica” Symphony. There we can imagine who died: the hero, or soldiers in battle. But who died in the first movement of the Ninth?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

7. The third movement, one of Beethoven’s great slow movements, almost gets lost amidst the greater drama of the surrounding movements, but it is such a lovely set of variations that is akin to the Lento assai, cantante e tranquillo<\/em> movement of his Op. 135 string quartet.<\/p>\n

<\/object><\/p>\n

8. One of the things that I most like about Carlos’ interpretation of this piece is that it is never made “precious” – tempos are brisk as a rule (most coming close to Beethoven’s own metronome markings as marked in the Del Mar edition of the score), and there is none of the Ormandy\/Philadelphia Orchestra massive weight that makes the whole thing seem like an elephant on quaaludes.<\/p>\n

9.\u00c2\u00a0 I know that the audience will love hearing this piece again – it is a real experience to hear it live in the concert hall, to see the many intricate pieces of the orchestra working to craft a humming machine of Beethoven.<\/p>\n

Hope you can make it!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We had our first rehearsals on Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony yesterday, and it was one of those days where I was tired from the very beginning, but I thought I could at least dredge up nine observations about this well-loved work from an insider’s perspective.\u00c2\u00a0 In the spirit of full disclosure, I cannot vouch for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[148,564,115,2,13],"tags":[501],"class_list":["post-1173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appreciations","category-audio","category-music","category-the-orchestra-world","category-video","tag-beethoven"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-iV","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8295,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2013\/02\/05\/beethoven-nine-sold-out-dress-rehearsal-tix-available\/","url_meta":{"origin":1173,"position":0},"title":"beethoven nine sold out – dress rehearsal tix available","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 5, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"It's great news for us at the Oregon Symphony - all three concerts of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony have sold out! If you were hoping to come, and weren't able to get tickets in time, you still have a chance, here's the info from the Oregon Symphony website (where you can\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"beethoven2","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/beethoven2-400x499.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12468,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2013\/02\/12\/my-beethovens-wild-ride\/","url_meta":{"origin":1173,"position":1},"title":"mr beethoven’s wild ride","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 12, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"We just finished our three concert run of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony last night at Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. It was, as many have observed, a bittersweet occasion. Sweet because of the great music making, bitter because of the recent passing of our beloved maestro James (Jimmy) DePreist. As violinist Ron\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/CFQQsu6VBYA\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":531,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/11\/14\/berlin-and-rattle-get-it-right\/","url_meta":{"origin":1173,"position":2},"title":"berlin and rattle get it right","author":"Charles Noble","date":"November 14, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I was up late last night, listening to the new recording on EMI of Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic performing Gustav Mahler's great, heart-rending Ninth Symphony. I have to say that it just might be the best modern recording of any work by any orchestra. [I should note\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "music"","block_context":{"text":"music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/11\/emi_rattle_mahler9.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":928,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/04\/16\/a-long-farewell\/","url_meta":{"origin":1173,"position":3},"title":"a long farewell?","author":"Charles Noble","date":"April 16, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00c2\u00a0 On Monday the 21st of April we begin rehearsals on Mahler's last completed symphonic work, the Ninth Symphony. \u00c2\u00a0As we rehearse each movement (one each rehearsal) I'll post thoughts on this large and emotionally exhausting work as a preparation for the performances to come. Mahler's Ninth Symphony has been\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"mahler","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/mahler-en-face-valkeveen.thumbnail.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13628,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2015\/01\/01\/beethoven-9-a-few-of-our-favorite-things\/","url_meta":{"origin":1173,"position":4},"title":"beethoven 9 – a few of our favorite things","author":"Charles Noble","date":"January 1, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"We're in the second year of the Oregon Symphony's annual Ode to Joy New Year's Eve gala, and - in the viola section, at least - there is no sign of any of us being tired of playing Beethoven 9. In fact, in our rehearsal for the work this year,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"IMG_1276","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_1276-500x106.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":936,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/04\/21\/mahler-9-iii-rondo-burleske\/","url_meta":{"origin":1173,"position":5},"title":"mahler 9 – III. Rondo. Burleske.","author":"Charles Noble","date":"April 21, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"What would a Mahler symphony be without a sprawling, hectic, and by turns achingly beautiful scherzo? Well, quite a bit shorter, for one. Mahler is often in the habit of taking a huge movement in cut time and making a huge journey out of it, and the Ninth Symphony is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/303"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1173\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}