Seattle Symphony Beethoven's 9th Symphony, Jan 4, 2014

I have a confession to make:  Before last night, I had never ever heard Beethoven's 9th live.  Yes, yes, I know, I'm a terrible musician.  The reason why I've never heard it live is for the same reason that I've never actually learned to play Fur Elise or the Moonlight Sonata.  They're overplayed to bits.

However, I couldn't put it off forever it seems, so last night I went with a friend amid the craziness that is Seattle downtown right now, and yes, I did manage to enjoy it.

The first half of the program consisted of Brahms' "Hadyn Variations" for orchestra.  I've heard the piano version, and though I can appreciate the complexities and the carefully crafted harmonies and the evolution of the theme with its outstanding originality and all that, it honestly drags on a bit (more than a bit), with not enough substance to hold my interest (a rarity with Brahms!).  While this feeling carried over into tonight's performance, the setting for orchestra did make a big difference.  It felt like the original was a very finely detailed black and white photograph of a nondescript forest; however, with the instruments you come to realize that it was taken in autumn.  The subject matter has changed not one iota, but the colors add context and meaning.  Things stood out more: layering of voices, changes in rhythm, dynamic contrast.  So while I still can't say that it's on the top of my list where orchestral works are concerned, at least I'm able to appreciate it more.

And on to the symphony.

Recently, I've been enjoying...nay, worshiping, Beethoven more and more.  It has taken me awhile to let myself do so for the same reason that I'd never heard the symphony live and still don't know Fur Elise and the Moonlight Sonata. 

However, Beethoven the composer is as justly famous as any of his ill-treated works.  The more I get into his less popular works ("less" being relative), the more I realize that the man was just filled with good melodies, good rhythms, good harmonies and form and all that.  Most composers will, at some point, leave me yawning (Brahms' "Variations" being case in point), because even with the amazing works they have turned out, there are still some that ho-hum.  And while I'm not about to go around humming the themes from Beethoven's 2nd Symphony by any means, the vast, vast majority of his music is not only memorable, it's good.  Solid as a rock and still beautiful.  I enjoy learning every flawless note.

So, on to the symphony.  (Yes, I know I just said that...)

I'm not about to go through a play-by-play of the symphony because it's been done a hundred times.  So I'll just talk about the clarinet.  Because even if the symphony hadn't been worth listening to, I would have gone back just for that glorious moment where the clarinet is in its most crystalline tessitura, with full spotlight. For some reason, I've never noticed it so plainly in the recordings I've heard of this movement.  Hearing it live made me aware of exactly where that shining sound was coming from, blossoming out from behind the strings.  It was so round and buoyant...and when the second clarinet and bassoon joined, with the muralled wall of sound behind from the horn, I couldn't help but wonder, "Where did this sound come from?  Certainly not earth!"  I had a composition professor in college who said that going deaf was the best thing that happened to Beethoven, because it freed imagination from the reality of sound.  It does make one wonder.

In any case, to that happy first clarinettist, I say, "Bravo!".  And thank you for making my night so wonderful.

-G