Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra And The Beethoven 9th

[erik]

Proving that different lights can stll be shed on definitive works of Western music, this weekend, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra will present a work of the Classical era that they have performed only once before (with the Japan Symphony at the Hollywood Bowl in 1994), namely Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Normally performed with much larger forces, this particular performance will be closer in scale to what Beethoven had at the work's 1824 debut in Vienna, plus the obligatory chorus in the "Ode To Joy" (in this case, the Los Angeles Master Chorale). The work has been used in the cinema numerous times, most prominently in director Stanley Kubrick's ultra-controversial 1971 classic A CLOCKWORK ORANGE and the 1988 action blockbuster DIE HARD:

www.broadwayworld.com/bwwclassical/article/Los-Angeles-Chamber-Orchestra-Presents-BEETHOVENS-SYMPHONY-NO-9-THE-CHORAL-20010101

[moe]

It would be very interesting to hear this work done by a chamber ensemble. Of course you still have to have the chorus or it wouldn't work out in the last movement. It is interesting that Beethoven's original setting was smaller than the cast of thousands (or so it seems) that is typical when #9 is performed. I wonder if this will be taped or broadcast or u-tubed? I'd like to hear it but can't afford the trip to LA.

[erik]

It is a bit more common than it used to be in decades past for this work to be performed with a smaller orchestra (though trombones and some extra percussion, which you'd never find in a normal chamber orchestra, are still a must), due to the growth of the period instrument movement, which insisted on either using the instruments of Beethoven's era, using smaller forces, or following period instrument practices with modern instruments. This performance of the Beethoven 9th is likely to be of the latter two, since the L.A. Chamber Orchestra is a smaller ensemble (usually just 40 players, though it'll probably be closer to 50 for this purpose, not counting the L.A. Master Chorale).

It should also be said that this work that Beethoven he created he really could only hear in his head; he had been totally deaf for several years when he got around to completing it, so he had no real concept of the difficulty, the scope, and the enormity of it. Indeed, at its 1824 premiere in Vienna, when it was over, the composer had to be touched on the sleeve by one of the singers to turn around and see the vociferous applause for the work because he couldn't hear it.

[erik]

L.A. Times review of LACO performance of the Beethoven 9th:

www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-laco-beethoven-ninth-review-20170424-story.html