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Beethovenfest 2009

October 30, 2009

Enjoy excerpts from Beethoven's famous Ninth Symphony with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and conductor Paavo Jarvi.

https://p.dw.com/p/Jlrn
Conductor Paavo Jarvi and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen on stage in the Beethovenhalle in Bonn September 2009
Image: Barbara Frommann

Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is so identified with the choral finale, another Beethovenian innovation, that by comparison, the other three movements are neglected.

This rather vigorous rendition of the third movement from Beethoven’s Ninth - otherwise customarily performed in soft hues and static tempos - is another revelation of Beethoven a la Jarvi. Or to be more precise: Beethoven a la Jarvi on that particular evening in Bonn.

In his exclusive interview for DW, the maestro drew out the distinction between studio recordings and live performances: "There are different colors, there are different ways, there are longer pauses, maybe more or less concentration. Everything changes constantly. All the studying we do creates a strong safety net. So you can't really fall off that rope and kill yourself. But it has to be alive, it has to be a unique one: today's performance! The record remains exactly the way it's made, sort of set in stone. But our brains develop, and we grow. To think that there is a definitive performance of anything is absurd. The journey is the destination."

With this excerpt from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, written in 1824, we’ve reached the end of the cycle, but the journey continues.

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