Search - Beethoven, ARMSTRONG, Reynolds :: Symphony 9

The Ninth Star of Vienna

Flavia | Rome, Italy | 07/21/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have heard, in my life, a great many splendid recordings of Beethoven's last and greatest symphony but none that I can recall impressed me as greatly as London Symphony Orchestra's inimitable rendering of it. 'The Ode to Joy' sounds especially joyous as Giulini takes it upon herself to perform one of the most complex, sophisticated symphonic works of all time. And yet the symphony is not perfect -- indeed, how can any performance of such an inscrutably beautiful work ever be? The score has for decades confounded conductors and performers alike, for the it must be played incredibly fast for a sense of perfection to be effectively achieved, and a single error, however insignificant it may appear, can considerably affect the harmony of the entire movement. In a piece where every note is exactly in its appropriate place, and contributes to the effect of the music as a whole, a minor error may upset the melody. And these errors, though not very noticeable in this particular performance, occur with tolerable frequency. For instance, and most significantly, in the Scherzo, at the point where the drums roll out a repeated figure, the aforesaid drums came in a trifle late, but that difference of that moment made the difference of all but a trifle in the rest of the movement, since, as a consequence, the remainder of the music was delayed a little. It lies to London Symphony's eternal credit that they managed to prevent this mistake from seriously affecting the music, and to produce, despite the odds, a wonderfully harmonised piece. But then again, in the final movement, the actual 'Ode to Joy', directly after the Funeral March, when a soprano performs a solo amongst randomly moaning tenors, she descended from the G sharp to the F minor rather rapidly and incoherently, but the chorus managed again, by a combination of incredible luck and unerring equanimity, to make the error appear as though it were a part of the score. The extent of their success is manifest in the audience, which conducted itself in exemplary silence throughout the performance, and, at the appropriate moment (the spectators' sense of time is something that the drummers and sopranos of the Orchestra would do well to emulate) burst into a round of thunderous applause and enthusiastic cheering that spoke well of the exuberant nature of the marvellous music that they had just heard, and the remarkable skill, amounting to near perfection, with which it was performed. To be succinct, Guilini's orchestra rendered the Symphony almost what it should be. It stands to the credit of the group that no part of the score was altered or simplified for the advantage of the performers, as is frequent in certain less accomplished teams that had best remain anonymous. I approve of the recording, and would heartily recommend it to any musical enthusiast, for the recording is unblemished, and the presentation immaculate, though indeed the performance might have been slightly better. One that listens to the music, regardless of whether for the first time or for the fiftieth, with the widest smile imaginable -- a smile of pure delight, such as can only derive itself from glimpsing, for a short moment, paradise through the eyes -- or rather, the ears -- of exuberant music, fixed on his face, will comprehend why the world's greatest composer named it 'The Ode to Joy.'"