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Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony recently put up a performance on YouTube, which I believe is up there with Kurt Masur, Herbert von Karajan, and even Furtwangler......
This is as close to a perfect Beethoven Ninth as you'll ever encounter..... Even the choir was top drawer.... And the four singers were *fabulous*.... This is as good as it gets.
This further reinforces my opinion of Maestro Riccardo Muti, one of the great conductors of our time.
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Very nice. I should mention the Chicago Symphony Chorus, which is always excellent.
We are going to do the Ninth next spring. We did it a few years ago. I find it kind of fun to sing, and I don't mind all the high E and F notes the bass section has. The chorus only has 12-13 minutes of actual singing, though the poor sopranos have to hold a high A for pages.
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"A fool and his money are soon parted." --- Thomas Tusser
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"Life without music is a mistake" (Nietzsche)
"Perfect piece to listen to when studying" ??? I couldn't "study" while listening to the Beethoven 9th if my life depended on it. To each his own, I guess.
No one can. They either aren't studying or aren't listening.
Thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks.
Bill
the film is better than the actual performance.
It was a huge let down because this was my first live 9th. Even my friend who was with me and has heard the performance many times over said it was not the best.
Soprano's vocals were completely lost from where we were sitting. Tenor and bass did all right and no problem reaching.
Last week, another friend who wasn't there at the concert sent me the same YouTube link asking me if it was as bad as the YouTube video. :/
But then again, I don't care for Kurt Masur's style ( or lack of ) either.
I was there and I thought it was a wonderful performance. But I had great seats.
It was the performance itself I didn't dig.
Don't think there is one-size-fits-all Beethoven.
I remember an usher at Severance hall once telling me, if two people at a concert perceive the same performance totally differently, the problem is probably the hall itself. (Cannot say I agree, by the way.)
Although I have been to quite a few concerts which I thought the performance was less than stellar, yet drew a thunderous ovation from the audience.
but that's not it. Cuz, I have plenty of good moving emotionally rewarding performance in spite of it.
Dunno if one should gauge a worth of performance by the amount of applause it gets.
Sir Beecham said
"There are two golden rules for an orchestra: start together and finish together. The public doesn't give a damn what goes on in between." :)
Musicians have off days. Not all the concerts I attend are winners.
The music is subjective. ( worse than hifi I think ) There are certain performances or style I would never take to.
I was thinking mostly Muti's read of the work.... I thought the 2nd movement could have been a tad more "brisk".... And maybe the slow movement "speeding up" a bit too much.... But VERY minor issues, and hardly much else to nitpick, from an interpretative standpoint.
I thought the Chicago Symphony performed very well, but I've encountered individual passages played better. (The CSO's string intonation and articulation is not exactly the best. The refinement in "brass tone" was always an issue with this band.) I thought the four singers were fabulous, particularly in the balance, phrasing, and the soprano blending instead of "drowning out" the other singers. (The soprano also avoids the common failing in singing "sharp".)
But I can see how it can be perceived differently by others, especially in the flesh. Those who like their Beethoven "fast" might have the biggest problem with the Muti performance.
but my benchmark is judged rather unscientific and non technical.
The performance just did not move me at all.
I think Muti does better on Verdi's operatic work.
I watched it again.... The recording is relatively high resolution.... (Especially by YouTube standards.) The "microdynamics" are captured here far better than most, but the "bombastic" character that is often heard in poorer recordings seems "tame" by comparison, because there isn't much dynamic compression going on here. (The recording here is better than most NHK performances I've linked to.)
People attending live concerts are often "shocked" over how "unspectacular" it sounds.... (They often expect it to be even more "bombastic" than on recording. This was a surprise for me when I first attended concerts.) This clip IMO provides a sonic perspective more consistent with what I've experienced at live classical events.
He's plenty *bombastic* on Tchaikovsky program.
In spite a poor acoustic at CSO, I always enjoy the real time dynamics and harmonics of orchestra so *unspectacular-ness* must comes from the direction of the conductor.
There are plenty of what I call *benign* 9th on the recording, too.
I have noticed however I enjoy guest conductor's performance than Muti conducting the CSO in general. Some performances had me in tears even. But never with Muti on the podium.
I thought Muti's 5th with Philly was all right so I had my hope for his 9th with the CSO but not exactly what I expected to be.
I hope to experience a moving emotionally fulfilling 9th in the future.
What's wacky is I don't recall a truly memorable Ninth from Cleveland.... The closest was Christoph von Dohnanyi, but even that performance had some strange quirks.... I heard Leinsdorf do it in the flesh, and he totally butchered the piece........ Maybe even worse than Welser's...........
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