★★★★★
The Aurora Orchestra has turned its introductions to music into an art form and this Prom guide to Beethoven’s Ninth was no exception. In the first half, the story of how the deaf composer wrote his last complete symphony — a revolutionary creation in which human voices would join the orchestra for the first time in symphonic history — was brilliantly interwoven with a dissection of the music, the conductor Nicholas Collon deftly and often amusingly drawing out Beethoven’s ideas and ingenuity.
One of the best features was its exploration of deafness. Jane Mitchell’s clever script was based on Beethoven’s conversation books — notebooks containing the words written down by people talking to him, plus his own scribbles and to-do lists (you’ll be relieved to learn he does manage, finally, to get his hair cut before the premiere). Some of the glimpses of his daily life were endearingly mundane, others gave us a tantalising sense of his frustrations and hopes. All were excellently delivered by the actors Rhiannon May and Tom Simper, and the British Sign Language interpreter Kate Green.
Before the symphony’s premiere on May 7, 1824, Beethoven optimistically scheduled just “one rehearsal for correctness and one for expression”. I suspect the Aurora players spent rather more time preparing for this Prom, given that the whole symphony — well over an hour of demanding, unexpected music — was performed from memory. The value of that feat is always worth considering. Would this stand as a great Ninth without that extra test of skill? The first three movements were played with determined energy, the pace bowling along as Beethoven’s taut motifs and relentless rhythms ricocheted around the stage. Personally I’d have swapped some of the choppiness for a greater sense of line, yet this was a performance that grew in stature and the finale was truly outstanding.
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It gave us Beethoven as pure theatre. From the wondrously bizarre opening in which the double basses and cellos are treated like human voices to the outpouring from the BBC Singers and National Youth Choir as they sang Schiller’s Ode to Joy, the movement thrummed with life. Some singers stood with the instrumentalists, making the choir and orchestra seem more like one unified ensemble, expressing Beethoven’s vision of brotherhood. Even the four excellent vocal soloists felt like just one part of a greater whole. And let’s not forget the janissary (Turkish-style) band processing through the orchestra along the way. As an explosion of joy and expression of humanity, it couldn’t be bettered.
Available on BBC Sounds. This performance will be broadcast on BBC4 on August 30 and then will be available on iPlayer
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