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Today Penny reaches the climax of Afternoon on 3's Beethoven Symphony cycle with the work that changed the Symphony forever: his Ninth and last Symphony, transcending the orchestra with the human voice in its final "Ode to Joy".

Hillevi Martinpelto (soprano)
Karen Cargill (mezzo)
Paul Nilon (tenor)
Alastair Miles (bass)
City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus
鲍鱼tv Philharmonic
Gianandrea Noseda (conductor).

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770鈥�1827)

Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, 鈥楥horal鈥� (1822鈥�4)

1 Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso
2 Molto vivace 鈥� Presto
3 Adagio molto cantabile 鈥� Andante moderato
4 Finale: Presto 鈥� Allegro assai 鈥� Alla marcia: Allegro vivace assai 鈥� Andante maestoso 鈥� Adagio non troppo, ma divoto 鈥� Allegro energico, sempre ben marcato 鈥� Allegro ma non tanto 鈥� Poco adagio 鈥� Poco allegro, stringendo il tempo 鈥� Prestissimo

鈥淚n the repressively conservative Vienna that quickly took shape after the final defeat of Napoleon, composing an 鈥極de to Freedom鈥� would have been a dangerously provocative act.鈥�

Few of Beethoven鈥檚 greatest works had easy births. His surviving sketchbooks show how long and hard he often had to struggle to bring his material to the form in which we know and value it today. Often his first thoughts seem startlingly crude or na茂ve compared to the finished product. But like a sculptor who senses perfection imprisoned in a slab of stone, and keeps on chiselling until he attains his ideal, Beethoven would labour away 鈥� sometimes on several works simultaneously 鈥� until he arrived at a version he could put his name to.

In the case of the Ninth Symphony the progress from the moment of conception to complete full score took at least 12 years. The first reference to a 鈥榮ymphony in D minor鈥� occurs in 1811 in one of Beethoven鈥檚 notebooks 鈥� at the time Beethoven was also starting work on his Seventh Symphony, in A major. Despite Beethoven鈥檚 initial enthusiasm (boosted by a rejuvenating holiday at the spa town of Teplitz), it wasn鈥檛 until the autumn of 1823 that the D minor Symphony was at last complete, though he continued to fine-tune it until the spring of 1824. That such a colossal work should have had such a long gestation is not very surprising. But it also seems that Beethoven鈥檚 overall conception changed radically during the composition process. At one point he was thinking of a purely orchestral finale 鈥� the theme he sketched for this eventually became the leading idea in the last movement of the A minor String Quartet, Op. 132. At other times Beethoven seriously contemplated a choral finale on a traditional religious text. Then his plans coalesced with a much older project: a setting of Friedrich Schiller鈥檚 Ode an die Freude (鈥極de to Joy鈥�), which he鈥檇 first considered as early as 1798, then put on hold. At the same time, the famous 鈥極de to Joy鈥� theme, which sets the finale鈥檚 expanded theme-and-variations argument in motion, is clearly a reworking of 鈥� and considerable improvement on 鈥� a tune heard in the last section of the bizarre but very likeable Fantasy in C, Op. 80, for solo piano, chorus and orchestra, composed in 1808.

What was it about Schiller鈥檚 poem that had such an enduring appeal for Beethoven? On one level the Ode an die Freude has a strongly religious element鈥� 鈥榃orld, do you sense the Creator? Look for Him beyond the stars鈥�. But this is balanced by an unmistakably worldly, democratic message: 鈥楢ll men shall be brothers鈥�. Beethoven may also have heard that Schiller had originally intended an ode, not to 鈥榡oy鈥� (Freude) but to 鈥榝reedom鈥� (Freiheit). If so, that would only have strengthened the poem鈥檚 appeal for him. In the repressively conservative Vienna that quickly took shape after the final defeat of Napoleon, composing an 鈥極de to Freedom鈥� would have been a dangerously provocative act. The thought that some members of the symphony鈥檚 first audience might know that 鈥榡oy鈥� could also mean 鈥榝reedom鈥� would only have heightened Beethoven鈥檚 enthusiasm for the project.

The most remarkable feature of the Ninth Symphony 鈥� apart from its sheer scale and extreme expressive range 鈥� is the way the work evolves from purely musical drama to vivid, sometimes almost directly pictorial setting of Schiller鈥檚 words. The first movement is the most 鈥榓bsolutely鈥� musical of the four: a compelling, superbly argued symphonic allegro which needs no written interpretation, but whose content is unmistakably dark. From the nebulous, hushed beginning to the spine tingling final orchestral unison at its conclusion the first movement has a momentum like a great Ancient Greek tragedy, propelled forward as though by the elemental machinery of fate. The second movement 鈥� a scherzo in all but name 鈥� has a similar classical perfection in its broad formal outlines. The main Molto vivace section has the impetus of a cosmic dance; but in the Presto trio section one can hear the orchestral instruments straining for a more vocal kind of expression. In particular the trombone writing (this is the first time these instruments are heard in the symphony) has an almost choral quality. In Beethoven鈥檚 day trombones were usually associated with religious music or with 鈥榮upernatural鈥� effects in opera 鈥� such as the avenging statue in Mozart鈥檚 Don Giovanni. For the first audience in Vienna in 1824, such associations would have inescapable.

Lyricism flowers in the slow third movement, but here, very unusually in a classical era symphony, Beethoven sets the second theme in a different metre: 3 instead of the main 4/4. After this second melody has been heard twice, the Adagio unfolds in a beautiful series of variations on the initial theme, twice interrupted dramatically by full orchestral fanfares, enhanced by martial trumpets and drums. Again these do not seem to be explicable as 鈥榩urely鈥� musical events 鈥� some kind of non-musical interpretation seems to be demanded, as with the 鈥榠nvasive鈥� trumpets and drums in the last movement of Beethoven鈥檚 contemporary Missa solemnis. A reminder of recent conflict in the midst of peace?

After the Adagio鈥檚 serene conclusion, the finale鈥檚 explosive Presto opening comes as a shock. Cellos and basses now aspire even closer to vocal expression in a series of instrumental recitatives, which conjure up memories of the themes of the first three movements. Each idea in turn is rejected, then cellos and basses begin a singing melody in D major: this is the famous 鈥極de to Joy鈥� theme. It grows and enriches polyphonically, then the violent Presto music breaks in again, to be followed, as before, by recitatives 鈥� but not from the orchestra, rather from a solo baritone voice: 鈥極 friends, no more of these sounds!鈥� These words are Beethoven鈥檚 own. They complete a masterly transition from semi-articulate instrumental expression to the direct utterance of the sung word. Now the finale unfolds in a huge setting of Schiller鈥檚 verses, lovingly dwelling on key images. Finally, after an ecstatic solo section for the full vocal quartet, the chorus and orchestra join in a magnificent accelerating coda. The concluding Prestissimo is left to the orchestra alone, but the message is unmistakable.

Programme note 漏 Stephen Johnson

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