The humanity of mankind revealed in an ode to sorrow and an ode to joy.
Metamorphosen is an "ode to sorrow" – one composer's response to the devastation of World War II. Beethoven's Ninth Symphony ends with the "Ode to Joy" – triumphant and optimistic. But, says Vladimir Ashkenazy, both these great musical works relate to the humanity of mankind – "one is pessimistic, the other is gloriously open."
Richard Strauss gives us weighty, tormented music, tinged with personal suffering. At the end there's a Beethoven quotation he says "escaped from his pen" – a funeral march for a hero.
Beethoven's Ninth shows a composer who wrestled with fate, who believed in freedom, who was a voice for the world. He still is. And that's why this monumental symphony resonates, nearly two hundred years later.
R STRAUSS Metamorphosen
BEETHOVEN Symphony No.9 (Choral)
Vladimir Ashkenazy conductor
Lorina Gore soprano
Sally-Anne Russell mezzo-soprano
James Egglestone tenor
Michael Nagy baritone
Sydney Philharmonia Choirs
(Symphony Chorus, Chamber Singers and VOX)
Pre-concert talk by Yvonne Frindle at 7.15pm in the Northern Foyer (6.15pm on Monday 13 February).
AUDIO PLAYER LISTING
Track 1 - RICHARD STRAUSS Metamorphosen
Staatskapelle Dresden conducted by Giuseppe Sinopoli
DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON Eloquence 480 0478
Track 2 - BEETHOVEN Symphony No.9 (Choral): 1st movement
Track 3 - BEETHOVEN Symphony No.9 (Choral): 2nd movement
Track 4 - BEETHOVEN Symphony No.9 (Choral): 4th movement
Measha Brueggergosman (soprano), Kelley O'Connor (mezzo-soprano); Frank Lopardo (tenor); René Pape (bass) and the Cleveland Orchestra conducted by Franz Welser-Möst
DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 477 7132
Audio kindly supplied by Silver Partner Universal Music
Thanks to our partner Telstra BigPond, you can watch Beethoven 9: Ode to Joy live via webcast at 7pm on Monday 13 February on your computer, or via SSO's mobile app on your smartphone or tablet, and on Telstra T-Box on Channel 919. Visit bigpondmusic.com/sydneysymphony for more info.