Ode

Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony is one of the rare works of the repertoire that has attained, in addition to its vaulted musical status, a cultural and even political significance. The exalted setting of Schiller’s “Ode to Joy” forever associated the work with a hope for peace and brotherhood, but this hope was ultimately frustrated by the events of the 20th Century.  With an eye to events past and present, whether such a hope can ever be fulfilled.

The piece begins as if in a dream, with fragments of the “Ode to Joy” floating over illusory harmonies in the orchestra, and soon focuses on the most characteristic fragment – the Ode’s first three notes. This motif drives the transformation that follows – from a hopeful world of lyricism into a menacing, destructive fanfare of war. Along the way, we get a glimpse of the martial music of the 9th’s last movement, which begins harmlessly but soon spins out of control. In the aftermath of the ensuing explosion – which, like weapons of mass destruction, leaves very little standing – a pulsating harmonic world floats downwards. It is the harmonies of the work’s beginning, but in reverse, finally ending with the opening chord – an open fifth. Having begun with the theme that ends Beethoven’s symphony, the work ends with his beginning: an uncertain world of harmonic ambiguity, articulated by a trembling in the strings – as we wait for something to happen.