Beethoven Festival: Ode to Joy

There was no other possible choice for the finale to the massive Beethoven Festival presented by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra this August. Not only is the Ninth Symphony the last of the series, it is long enough to occupy a whole program and adds a huge choir which, on this occasion, outnumbered even the full orchestra. The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus is the ‘resident’ choir, thus already has an empathy with the orchestra – and was beautifully prepared for this performance by chorus master Jonathon Grieves-Smith. Having already witnessed visiting conductor Douglas Boyd’s approach to the Second and Fifth symphonies, I was confident that Beethoven’s master work would be delivered as the great composer would have wished – and this surely proved to be so. Boyd nevertheless puts his mark on works he conducts, in a way that I find entirely satisfactory: in particular, he illuminates the texture by allowing inner parts of the massive structure to be heard. Parts of the work seemed almost new, such as the cellos’ importance in the first movement, and the prolonged pizzicato in the third, just before a final development of its main subject. As to the work itself, what is there to say that has not been said more eloquently? One of the world’s great musical treasures, the Ninth Symphony adds the power of Schiller’s Ode to Joy to the music of the mature and confident Beethoven: “Do you fall down, ye millions/ In awe of your Creator, world?/ Go, seek Him beyond the stars!/ For there assuredly He dwells.” Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony has an instant appeal to those unfamiliar with the classical repertoire as to aficionados who know and love every note. There was everything in this performance to delight them all. Even the soloists sat through the first three movements with smiles on their faces, despite the huge wall of sound gathering behind them. When it came time for the soloists to join the orchestra (in the final movement) they acquitted themselves very well, beginning with the suitably stentorian tones of bass Peter Rose, the choir at first an echo. Although the Town Hall acoustics were against them, soprano Anita Watson, mezzo Sally-Anne Russell and tenor Steve Davislim immediately impressed with their balanced sound, and all four were able to soar above the combined force of chorus and orchestra. One of the particular joys of this work is the section for male voices only, in which a new theme is introduced: “Be enfolded, all ye millions/ In this kiss of the whole world!” in an almost jaunty interlude before the reiteration of the main theme. At this slightly reduced volume, the crisp entries and fine phrasing of the choir was shown to advantage. But of course there was mounting excitement as the final chorus approached and, as expected, the conclusion of the work was sensational: the kind of sound that stays in the memory long after the event. It was a fitting conclusion to the Beethoven Festival, Douglas Boyd’s and the MSO’s own ‘ode to joy’ this winter. Rating: Five stars Beethoven Festival: Ode to Joy Symphony No 9 in D minor, Op 125 Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Conducted by Douglas Boyd Melbourne Town Hall August 21 – 22 The MSO’s Beethoven Festival August 6 – 22 www.mso.com.au