Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony #9 "Choral"

[elleng]

https://weta.org/player

***AHA, This is #3 on our list of favorites, so 2 remaining!!

USUALLY this BEETH is 1 or 2, so now, I'll bet on Dvorak New World, but #1 or 2? and who's the REMAINING favorite???

(This may tell y'all SOMETHING about me! I'm HOME ALONE, and this is one of my favorite days and endeavors of the entire YEAR!!!)

2024 WETA Classical Countdown!!!

[LSparkle]

1. I'm with you about Dvorak maybe at #2 but ...

Has Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue been played? That’s sometimes near the top of my local classical countdown.

[elleng]

2. Yes, Rhapsody in Blue's been played, was # 8.

Here's the list so far:

https://weta.org/fm/features/classical-countdown

[LSparkle]

3. Didn't see JS Bach's Prelude and Fugue (organ piece)

I’m stumped.

[elleng]

4. Good question!

Looks like we've got a WHILE, to find out!!!

[LSparkle]

5. Toccata and fugue not prelude ...

[elleng]

6. SHOULD be, but hasn't been played!

BACH way UNDER-played, this week!

[RazorbackExpat]

7. This year marked the 200th anniversary of its premiere

Last edited Tue Dec 31, 2024, 07:31 AM - Edit history (1)

One of the greatest concerts of all time. That, and the 1989 performance with Leonard Bernstein, to celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall.

It's currently being broadcast by Japan's NHK. It's a New Year's Eve tradition in Japan.

[RazorbackExpat]

8. One thing I might add about the 9th Symphony

Last edited Tue Dec 31, 2024, 07:28 AM - Edit history (1)

Part of the 2nd movement was the theme song for either the NBC Nightly News or the Huntley-Brinkley Report in the 1960s. As a kid, II really loved that, but I didn't know what music it was. Then, one Christmas Eve, they played a longer part of the 4th movement. My brother, who was more into contemporary rock at the time, told me it was Beethoven's 9th. I was so enamored with it that I asked a local radio station to play the entire symphony for me in their Sunday classical music show. I was 13 at the time. I loved it so much that I bought a cassette tape of the symphony, performed by Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra. I played that tape so much that it broke in my cassette player

[RazorbackExpat]

9. Well, that was an incredible performance

The lead singers (soprano, mezzo soprano, tenor and bass), along with the conductor, Fabio Luisi, came out 4 or 5 times for a curtain call.

Bravo