Beethoven Symphony No.9 - (part 1)

Maestro Bernstein conducted the Berlin Philarmonic on Dec 25 1989 the first year the wall went down, he had vocalists and members of the choir and the Berlin Radio Orchestra from East Berlin and East Germany perform. During the Ode to Joy movement, he substituted Joy to Freihet (Freedom) so the choir sang Ode to Freihet (Ode to Joy).

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Leonard
• Bernstein
• Berlin
• Philharmonic
• Beetoven

[CalderaXII]

@al1936ful just a little "fun fact": the longest version of the 9th symphony is about 74 minutes long. when sony brought the CD on the market they set the capacity of the CD to 74 minutes in order to be able to listen to the 9th in one piece, without changing the CD.

(sorry for the bad language, im not a native english-speaker. and im a little bit drunk^^)

[pmrsg]

In the description there's a mistake. Bernstein indeed modified the text for the coral piece, but he substituted all instances of the word "Freude" (Joy) for "Freihet" (Freedom). So instead of "Ode to Joy" it was a "Ode to Freeddom". At the time everyone thought to be a wonderful idea since they were celebrating the fall of the Berlin Wall... celebrating freedom!

[bshampton118]

Just to set the record straight: The orchestra is NOT the Berliner Philharmoniker, but primarily the Bavarian Radio Orchestra (and chorus) with members of the following orchestras added: London Symphony, New York Philharmonic, L'Orchestre de Paris, The Kirov Orchestra- symbolic of the former combattants of WWII.

[THEMGOROTH75]

EEEEEEEEEEPIC!!!!!!!!

[gink2w]

The last symphony from a man who changed the minds from people of his era. It's a pity that nowadays' artist don't make music like this :(

[hollytree1996]

@Funkingout

Uhh. He's in the freaking BERLIN PHIL. I don't think anyone really cares what his chin looks like.

[Funkingout]

Maybe the guy at 5:38 shouldn't play the violin, it doesn't do his chin(s) any favours

[boingokky]

@christopher19894 The Title is not very specific, it's part 1 of mvt. 4., as it should have been notated (more or less.)

[boingokky]

The 3 dislikes are descendants of Mozart's! 

[MrTann2010]

I like the fact that they don't rush the cello part. Most Orchestras rush the cello part and you can't catch the essence of it

[MasterAzunai]

@simon1430 Besides just keeping simple count and showing dynamics, he also shapes the phrases. A good orchestra (such as the Berliner Philharmoniker) could easily play "in sync" and probably sound pretty damn good, but Bernstein brings his own musical ideas (the shaping of the phrases, tempi, dynamics, et cetera) to them and they basically do whatever he conducts. Listen to the same orchestra performing the same piece but with a different conductor, and you will see how big of a difference it is

[MasterAzunai]

The recitativo is a litttleeeeeeee slowwwwwwww. Other than the feeling of a total lack of movement in the beginning I think this is perfectly dramatic for a dramatic occasion.