Beethoven's Ninth

For the last 2 seasons (well, 3 seasons, technically; I'll explain) the Austin Symphony has been doing a celebration of Beethoven, and playing all nine of his symphonies. Last season they played 1-3, and this season they did 4-9 (with the exception of 6 which was done the season before the celebration started, so they didn't want to do it again; hence actually 3 seasons). This weekend was the conclusion of said celebration with an all Beethoven Concert: they played his 8th in the first half, and the 9th in the second half. Let me take a moment to describe how geeky I sometimes am. Not only was I so excited about this concert (the 9th Symphony is indescribably amazing live), I've been talking about how excited I was about it for like 3 weeks....maybe more. And not only did I buy tickets to go, I planned to go both nights. Yes, that's right, TWICE. And I spent at least a solid week before listening to almost nothing else but the Ninth. (I don't tire of music I really love because of a little repetition...)

I went Friday night with my roommate Michelle. It was a blast. We had a few other obligations to take care of before hand, then rush home to get ready, then rush out the door to make it to the concert. I was worried we wouldn't make it on time (or that they'd give our tickets away or something), so I weaved my way through the traffic (it was UT graduation this weekend), ready to have her jump out of the car to get the tickets at will call while I parked. This was the first concert I've ever been to in the new Long Center, so I didn't know my way around, and what I thought was the drop off zone turned out to be the valet parking. I didn't actually mind though, I figured I'd save time if they parked my car for me. It was only a couple bucks more than parking in the garage, so I figured it was okay. I hurried and gave them my car (valet guy: "Do you want to pay now or later?" E!: "Later," while screaming in my head, "Just take it! Just take it! Hurry!"), we got the tickets (no line at will call since it was about 7:59 at this point), and we hurried all the way up to the very tippy top of the balcony. (Our seats were on the very back row. Yay!) Luckily for us, they started about 5 minutes late, so we made it. Hurrah!

The show was great. They played the 8th Symphony in the first half; I'm not super familiar with the 8th, but it was great; very happy. (I'm trying to resist using the word "cute" when I describe classical music.) Then the second half was the Ninth. What can I say? It was phenomenal. (Although I thought the French horns seemed a little off at some points, but maybe it was just me.) During this performance I was able to hear the themes from both the 1st and 3rd movements played at the beginning of the 4th movement (I've been able to recognize the theme from the 2nd pretty easily before). That part of the movement is just beautiful, it's like the cellos and basses are "searching" for the right theme, as Beethoven revisits the previous 3 before introducing the new theme (the familiar "Ode to Joy"), played in unison by the low strings again. Ah....it was so beautiful!

I went again Saturday night and also had a very good time. :) There weren't major differences in the performance, obviously, except there was no running in to make it on time. (The seats were on the back row again -- but they weren't so bad; we had a good view of the whole stage.) The audience seemed more confused Saturday night about where to clap than they did Friday night. Often at the symphony during the first break between two movements, a few people might clap, but then they figure out that they shouldn't. Friday night there was no clapping between movements in either of the pieces. (I was impressed.) Saturday night, there was no clapping between movements in the 8th Symphony. But then there was some (and it seemed more than the "accidental" clapping) at the end of the 1st movement of the Ninth. (Maybe people were just too excited about it?) And then they contained themselves after the 2nd and were patient as the chorus filed out; but then the soloists came out, and people clapped. (It is customary to clap when soloist appear on stage, however, I would say the exception is when it's in the middle of the piece.) The break between the 3rd and 4th movements was too short to give anyone the chance to clap. (Maybe Peter Bay -- the conductor -- did that on purpose.)

Speaking of which, when they started the Ninth and the chorus wasn't there, I wondered when they were going to bring them out. I saw the Austin Symphony perform this piece about 3 years ago, but I couldn't remember how they did it. I think they should have done it before the piece started, but that's just me. If they had to do it between movements, between the 2nd and 3rd was the best place to do it. I was worried they'd do it between the 3rd and 4th which would have been horribly anticlimactic. But I realize it's a long time for them to sit there and wait for their turn to sing, so it's okay.

On Saturday night there was a family sitting to my right (two parents and their teenage son and daughter). I'm not sure how into it the kids were; I saw the daughter (who was sitting right next to me) look at her cell phone twice during the first half, and immediately start texting at intermission, while the son during intermission popped in his headphones and jammed out to some really loud music on his iPod. I hope they enjoyed it, but they both got up and left (without their parents) about 5 minutes before the end of the Ninth. Sad! (Maybe they were going to bring the car around to beat traffic?) If you've sat through about 55-60 minutes of music at that point, another 5 isn't going to hurt, especially since it's such a great conclusion. (Is it just me, or does this paragraph make me sound like I'm 87 years old?) Alas. I hope my kids like classical music someday. I sometimes wonder how I can help facilitate that.

Anyway, chances are I've said too much. Let me just sum it up like this: Beethoven's Ninth Symphony = So Awesome.

Oh, and E! = Classical Music Geek. :)