{"id":900,"date":"2019-04-15T23:20:08","date_gmt":"2019-04-16T06:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/musc326a\/?p=900"},"modified":"2019-04-15T23:20:08","modified_gmt":"2019-04-16T06:20:08","slug":"beethovens-ninth-symphony-with-vso","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/musc326a\/2019\/04\/15\/beethovens-ninth-symphony-with-vso\/","title":{"rendered":"Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with VSO"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the finale for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra\u2019s Spring Festival, themed \u201cMusic and Power\u201d for this year, they chose to do Beethoven\u2019s Ninth Symphony in D Minor. I did not get to see any of the other performances done for the Spring Festival, but I\u2019m glad I caught this last one. Not only because we\u2019re studying it in class, but because Beethoven\u2019s Ninth Symphony was actually one of the first exposure to orchestral music I have ever had. This rendition is done by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, directed by Otto Tausk, with vocal solos from James Westman (baritone), Eric Wall (soprano), Marion Newman (mezzo-soprano), David Pomeroy (tenor), and the UBC Choir directed by Dr. Graeme Langager.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the beginning of the symphony, the director, Otto Tausk, gave a very brief introduction to the symphony, saying how this anthem of hope was used to celebrate historical events such as the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and that this may be the \u201cshortest \u2018best\u2019 symphony\u201d ever written. The reason why it is such a celebrated piece, and why it is so representative of human perseverance and the feeling of hope becomes overtly apparent in the fourth movement (the \u201cOde to Joy\u201d) — but I\u2019m getting ahead of myself. <\/span><\/p>\n

For the first movement, it starts off relatively (relative to the ensuing trouble) mellow, and I had not noticed it before, but you can hear very faintly the famous \u201cOde to Joy\u201d theme in the introduction. It\u2019s as if we are being promised a resolution before the schism is built. Following the long introduction, we finally get the set-up for the <\/span>sturme und drang<\/span><\/i>, is obvious with the choice of the minor mode. Actually, it seems to have already seeped into the neutral set-up, but becomes full force very quickly, creating a sense of stress and anxiousness. Here and there, more neutral or happier music tries to come through the tension, it seems, but is quickly washed away. <\/span><\/p>\n

The second movement is continuing the minor theme of the first movement, but eventually seems to fade into a theme in a major key. However, the minor theme seems to try to crawl back every now and then, as if the themes are fighting each other. I think this is especially interesting to see in person, as one can observe which parts of the orchestra are active and inactive, and how they interact with each other. That is something that cannot be achieved with a recording. <\/span><\/p>\n

In the third movement, we have finally have what seems like a moment of peace. The movement is a slow one, as is typical of the third movement in a four-movement symphony, and the key sounds to be of a major key. However, it is by no means the finale or the resolution \u00a0— listeners of Beethoven back then would know it, and new listeners now (such as myself) would also be expecting more. The interruptions of loud fanfares from the orchestra suggest that they are not done either. <\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, the fourth movement — the one everyone knows: where \u201cOde to Joy\u201d gets sung. It is well known for a good reason: it is <\/span>beautiful<\/span><\/i>. It starts off with the baritone singer James Westman singing the lyrics in German. The music softens to draw attention to this vocal solo, and immediately following, is an overwhelming boom of the choir joining in. It is in the unified voices of the choir that I feel the message of the \u201cOde to Joy\u201d is most felt, since this is, afterall, meant to portray a feeling of friendship and optimism for the future of humanity. What better way to represent that than with a choir of <\/span>human<\/span><\/i> voices? <\/span><\/p>\n

Needless to say, I am very happy that I got to see Beethoven\u2019s Ninth Symphony in D Minor in person. As a final note, I would like to say that as someone who has not had a lot of exposure to this kind of music prior to this class, personally, I found it very helpful to see the orchestra and which parts of the orchestra are do <\/span>what<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>when<\/span><\/i> they are doing it. So, not only did I get to hear beautiful music, I got to have a better understanding of how it is achieved.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the finale for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra\u2019s Spring Festival, themed \u201cMusic and Power\u201d for this year, they chose to do Beethoven\u2019s Ninth Symphony in D Minor. I did not get to see any of the other performances done for the Spring Festival, but I\u2019m glad I caught this last one. Not only because we\u2019re […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64835,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/musc326a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/musc326a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/musc326a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/musc326a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64835"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/musc326a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=900"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/musc326a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":901,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/musc326a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900\/revisions\/901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/musc326a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/musc326a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/musc326a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}