Beethoven's 9th Symphony is holiday music in Japan.  This time of
year, "Dai Ku" as they call it ("Big Nine") is played over and over
again in Japanese concert halls and on the radio.  When asked about
the music's appeal, one man said, "When I listen to it, I feel as
if I can do anything."  

This seems very appropriate and not at all surprising.  Beethoven's
9th has been lifting spirits for nearly 200 years.  When was the
first time you heard it?  What effect does it have on you?  Do you
think it's really all that good?  (Stravinsky thought it was
mediocre, at least for a Beethoven symphony, so there is more than
one point of view about it.)  Have you ever heard it performed live?
Do you have a recording or recordings of it?  What's your favorite?

Give us your Dai Ku stories.

8 responses total.

Beethoven's 9th used to be what the BSO played at the last concert of
the season at Tanglewood, in Lenox, Massachusetts.  I was an usher 
there for many years, so I got to hear it conducted by Pierre Monteux,
Bruno Walter, Leonard Bernstein, Erich Leinsdorf, and a bunch of 
others.  The first recording I ever had was Toscanini.  

I currently don't have a recording of Beethoven's 9th, I'm 
embarrassed to admit, and haven't had one for nearly 20 years.  
I don't think I've heard it from start to finish in at least that long. 
That should be rectified this Christmas, however, and I'm looking
forward to renewing my acquaintance with my old friend. 

  I sort of backed into it. 

  My first experience was on the radio, a song called "Joy" by Apollo 100
who was an electronic band and they played the last movement rather quickly.
I got to like that. I was later horrified that someone had actually blasphemed
the music of Beethovan for a cheap pop song, but still "Joy" was a mighty
catchy tune. I asked my mom where it was from and she told me about the nine
symphonies. Her copy was by Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra.
I fell asleep.
  I have a copy on CD by the Prague Symphony. I paid $2 at Best Buy. I wish
it was by Von Karijan, like my copy of the 6th is. 

I much prefer orchestral to choral performances, so never play the 9th.
The choruses in most opera are appropriate, so that that part of telling
the story is not made individual. But I really only really like well the
solo to quintet human voice. When more sign all together the effect, for
me, is discordant.

I'm ashamed to admit this :-) but the first time I ever paid attention to the
9th's classic themes was when it was adapted for use in the movie "A Clockwork
Orange."  That movie also was the first time I heard Rossini's "The Thieving
Magpie" a classic overture in its own right.

They played it on PBS once and I watched with my dad.  He pointed out many
of the neat touches that were in it.

A group of us performed it at college, a cou;pla years ago. guess how! we
picked the notes ourselves, off a cheap tape (worth maybe $1) and sat all
night figuring the different voices... the singers were all people who had
never sung in their life before, but we had loads of fun, and hey, isn' that
wanted beethjoven wanted anyway!!

My introduction to the Ninth was the same as Kevin's in response 4;
there is a very lovely, very rare LP called WALTER CARLOS' CLOCKWORK
ORANGE which contains a straight setting of the second movement and 
a lengthy abridgement of the choral fourth movement.  (This is not 
the "official soundtrack" recording.)
 
Leslie (arabella) sang in the chorus of the symphony tonight: 
Greater Lansing Symphony Orchestra, with Gustav Meier conducting.
I really need to get out and see more live symphony performances, 
because I generally have trouble picking individual instruments out 
from symphonic recordings, but if I can see whose motions correspond
with certain sounds, things make more sense to me.  Anyway, it 
seemed like a pretty good performance to my non-critical ear, even 
if the tenor soloist had a tendency to lag behind.  The tympani player
was having a hoot of an evening, I think.

I have performed in the chorus of this work several times.  It falls
into that class of music that I enjoy performing but would not willingly
sit down and listen to.  This is true mostly of the last movement, the
rest of the symphony is for me much better; I will actually put the CD
in to listen to the third movement, a piece of music that gained some
special associations for me when a passionate then lover of mine showed
me the joy of making love with it in the background.  I hope Ludwig
would approve.

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