Beethoven Nine: Be Embraced

Grete Pedersen, conductor
Clara Rottsolk, soprano
Abigail Nims, mezzo-soprano
Andrew Staples, tenor
Dashon Burton, bass-baritone
Festival Orchestra
Festival Chorale
Festival Chorus
VBA

Immerse yourself in a reflective, meditative, and joyful concert!

Anton Bruckner’s Locus Iste (This place) is a sacred motet, composed in 1869 during his first year in Leipzig. It’s written for four unaccompanied mixed voices and is both haunting and transcendent.

John Cage’s 4’33” is perhaps the composer’s most famous work. It presents a unique opportunity for meditation and thoughtfulness for the audience and performers prior to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.

Allen Whear described Beethoven’s Ninth, which premiered in 1824, as a “brand new work of unprecedented length, formal complexity, technical difficulty, and massive orchestration intended not merely to entertain but to make a sublime statement. The entire symphony has been described as a symbolic journey, or a struggle, from D Minor to D Major, which is finally achieved in the finale.” In the finale, which has the iconic Ode to Joy theme, Beethoven develops a line over three verses and choruses from Schiller’s text, from the earthly - mankind and brotherhood - ascending to the divine in Seid umschlungen, Millionen!, which looks to the heavens. Joyful, indeed!

Program:

Locus iste (3 minutes) | Anton Bruckner (1824-1896)

4’33“ (5 minutes) | John Cage (1912-1992)

Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Opus 125, “Choral” (67 minutes) | Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770-1827)

I. Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso

II. Molto vivace

III. Adagio molto e cantabile

IV. Presto - Allegro assai - Allegro assai vivace

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