I've had a busy week. One opera, seven symphonies and one rugby international.
The highlight for me was two symphonies: The first half poetry of the
All Blacks in motion and
Ludwig van Beethoven's
5th Symphony.
But the best of it, the absolute pinnacle of my week, was 'Ode to Joy' from the final movement of the
Ninth Symphony. Performed by the
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, accompanied by
Auckland Choral with
Tiffany Speight in soprano,
Annely Peebo in mezzo-soprano,
Simon O'Neill in tenor and
Peter Coleman-Wright in bass, and conducted by
Pietari Inkinen, the magnificence of this piece was perfectly conveyed.
Ludwig van didn't really do vocals. In fact no major composer did until after the Ninth. Then it became a thing.
Beethoven never heard this. He was almost completely deaf when he composed it and he was stone deaf when it was performed. Here it is for your listening pleasure, one which he never enjoyed.
There is magnificence in our world, and beauty within the human soul.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87qT5BOl2XU-SRA. Auckland, vii/2014. (reposted.)
