The Ninth can be such a cataclysmic work few conductors do it justice.His version of Beethoven’s Seventh is often cited as the outstanding recording of the work dramatic and urgent. The Stockholm recording (on the complete set) is the one serious let down in this EMI cycle. The best Eighth is Furtwangler's April 1953 Berlin performance - a performance that seems to encompass the worlds of rage and repose totally naturally.
1813, Akademie at University Concert Hall, Vienna.Orchestra size for first or early performance: 13+12.7.6.4/single winds (estimated, based on Beethoven letter).Autograph Score: Biblioteka Jagiellońska, Kraków. To be among the best 20th century Beethoven specialists: Herbert von Karajan and Leonard Bernstein.Instrumentation: Strings, 2 Fl, 2 Ob, 2 Cl, 2 Bsn, 2 Hn, 2 Tr, Timp.First performance: 8 Dec. His account of the Fifth also bristles with character.Can we hear Beethoven's 7th Symphony as such. Vnk’s new recording of the Fourth Symphony is that, and more. From a number of recordings the mighty Karajan made of the Beethoven symphonies, the 1961-1962 set stands out.Dedication: Count Moritz von Fries ( portrait).There was an admired recording of the Pastoral Symphony, given away with a magazine, and a Proms performance of the Seventh Symphony which David Gutman described as ‘terrifically fresh and alert’ (BBC Proms, 11/99).
Ostinato variation (developing, passacaglia) with fugato.III. Sonata-Allegro (w/ slow intro.).II. Poco sostenuto (C, MM=69)—Vivace (6/8, MM=104). Steiner & Co., Vienna.First published score: Dec.
The Allegretto remained widely popular throughout the nineteenth century, and even today is often performed separately. The second movement—Allegretto—was particularly loved, leading to outbreaks of applause before the third movement during a number of early performances. Its huge popularity led to three performances in the ten weeks following its premiere. Unlike some of Beethoven’s other symphonies such as the Third and the Fifth, which we now regard as great works but were initially resisted to some degree by the composer’s contemporaries, the Viennese audience immediately embraced the Seventh Symphony, and considered it among their favorite orchestral works.
This more Romantic orchestration is a long way from the criticism “too much of Harmoniemusik” leveled at the “classical” First Symphony. (Lockwood, Beethoven’s Symphonies, 166-167.) Colorful orchestration that favors woodwind solos and horn calls, particularly in the first and last movements, also serves the rustic character. Lockwood goes on to say that Beethoven’s 6/8 theme in A major in the first movement reminded the listeners of Scottish and Irish folk songs. (Lockwood, Beethoven’s Symphonies, 151.) But this rhythmic vitality is one characteristic of a larger factor that may account for the Seventh Symphony’s appeal to audiences who may have no training in music: its rusticity suggesting folk music. The Symphony is the Apotheosis of the Dance itself: it is Dance in its highest aspect, the loftiest deed of bodily motion, incorporated into an ideal mold of tone.As Lockwood says, the rhythmic events are so strong that they sometimes overshadow other musical elements. Richard Wagner exalted the lively rhythm with this often-quoted poetic description:All tumult, all yearning and storming of the heart, become here the blissful insolence of joy, which carries us away with bacchanalian power through the roomy space of nature, through all the streams and seas of life, shouting in glad self-consciousness as we sound throughout the universe the daring strains of this human sphere-dance.
The key of A Major is the first chord of the symphony, but the opening moves throughout various keys, such as C Major, led by the oboes, and F Major, led by the flutes, until orchestral arrival on the dominant E Major. These third-related keys, and the rustic character supplied by woodwinds, are foreshadowed in the slow introduction of the first movement. The second movement is in A Minor and the third movement is in F Major, with the trio in D Major. Rather than using a relative minor key or keys that are related by a fourth or fifth, Beethoven chose to exploit keys separated by a third, particularly between the inner movements.
Following the introduction, the first movement Vivace moves forward with an unrelenting rhythmic motive (3:50-3:55):Rarely does this rhythmic figure cease, only doing so in order to create moments of great anticipation. The harmonic movement of the introduction mirrors fundamental key areas in each of the four movements, specifically: A major (first and last movement)—D major (trio of the third movement)—C major (second movement, B theme)—F major (third movement)—E major (beginning of the fourth movement). As in earlier opening-movement slow introductions, Beethoven brilliantly outlined important key areas, and highlighted scalar and chromatic motives found throughout the rest of the first movement.
The exposition and recapitulation, being 114 and 115 measures respectively, also balance around a lengthier developmental center of 97 measures.The second movement—Allegretto (14:43-24:08)—pulls back the frantic rush of the first movement into a melancholy march with a dramatic shift to the parallel key of A minor. Beethoven perfectly bookends the sonata form of the first movement with its introduction and coda, balanced at exactly 62 measures each. As with the use of silences, ascending and descending chromatic lines, often in the bass, lead towards and away from the different sections and key areas. Chromaticism is the third defining feature of the first movement.
After repeating the primary and secondary sections twice, the movement is brought to a close by returning to the main theme while gradually thinning out the orchestration and breaking apart the rhythmic motif, not unlike the end of the Marcia funebre movement of the Eroica Symphony. Also related to the first movement, Beethoven used ascending and descending chromatic lines, but here in the melody of the theme and variation, as heard here (15:43-16:33) played by the cellos and violas. Like the first movement, the second movement features a rhythmic motive that is consistent throughout (14:48-15:41):This rhythm ties the two harmonically and melodically disparate sections together with its steady, plodding pace. Not content with only creating simple variations on the theme, Beethoven further developed the theme by turning it into a fugue. The movement’s structure can be seen as a modified rondo or a hybrid between a theme and variations and a ternary form, with the outer sections carrying the theme and its variations, and the middle section providing a countering wistful themes in A major (18:19-19:38). Its appeal could possibly be due to Beethoven’s ingenuity in combining simple melodic lines, a consistent rhythmic motive, and unexpected harmonies, to draw the listeners into an aural journey of their own imagination.
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