00:00
[SOUND EFFECT]
Terrance McKnight: This is the Open Ears Project.
Marin Alsop: There's an incredible story, and legendary story, of the premiere in Vienna. He was conducting and when he finished the mezzo soprano soloist had to turn him around so that he could see the standing ovation. And you know, somehow through all of this, he didn't lose his optimism, and so for me, I-I-I think he's my hero, not just as a musician, but as a human being.
[MUSIC PLAYING: Finale from Beethoven’s Symphony no. 9]
1:30
I'm Marin Alsop, I'm a conductor, and we're listening to the last movement, the finale of Beethoven's ninth symphony.
What is it about this guy's music, and particularly about this ninth symphony, that speaks to us today as it spoke to us at the first performance?
For me, Beethoven represents - he represents so much more than just music. When I think of innovation, he's the one that comes to mind. When I think of enduring suffering and triumphing, he's the person that comes to mind. When I think of being misunderstood for one's whole life, he's the person. I think of him often, not just in terms of music, but in terms of, of just living on the planet as a human being.
3:02
I can't imagine being a composer and losing my hearing. I mean, what kind of cruel fate must that have been? And Beethoven knew from his twenties, his early twenties, that he was in this decline and it was going to be a slow, painful, inevitable loss.
He was so committed to his art. It was a higher calling, in a way. And I'm not sure he thought about the people around him as much as he thought about his destiny: that he had to create this art. And as he lost his hearing, he started hearing more. When people lose senses, sometimes they're able to actually heighten other senses, and he had a sense of internal hearing that made him revolutionary on many, many levels.
4:16
As a conductor, you know, conducting Beethoven Ninth Symphony, it's almost the overwhelming prospect at first, you know, because, what-what on earth can I bring to Beethoven's ninth symphony that the great conductors of the past 200 years haven't already said or already brought.
And I think over the years conducting the piece in different settings with different levels of orchestras, with different choirs, different soloists, I think I've come to realize that it's not about the sophistication, it's about the human connection.
And each performance of this piece that I've done is a beautiful memory, not just for me, but for everyone involved because it's about community. And so, I guess for me, the idea of measuring things, you know how we all love to measure. How was that? And what was this? And it really has dissipated. So now it's about pure experience, pure connection, pure joy.
5:36
I think this emotion of joy is very, very important. It was very important to Beethoven. Very important to us as human beings, you know, that we are united and together, we are stronger than any individual. It's so inspiring, but it really captures the essence of Beethoven's philosophy. Every single piece he wrote has that subtext - at least for me.
Beethoven nine is a, you know, it's a whole body experience for me. And at this moment, do you hear the dissonance? And this pounding of the Timpani… You feel lost, you know, where, where are we going, what's going on? You don't know what key it's in and then…
Suddenly this baritone solo comes out singing
And then like, what is this noise?
I'm still shocked when that finale breaks out. This is so unexpected. Even for me today, when I hear the human voice in the middle of the symphony, I'm thinking what is going on? You know, it was, it was so radical, revolutionary and, and I have the same feeling today as when I first heard it, uhh, as a young person and, and I never believed it was Beethoven when I first heard it.
8:15
You know, there's a fantastic lecture that Bernstein did - part of the the Norton lectures at Harvard - and his premise, and I really ascribe to it, is that the first word from a human being was not spoken, it was sung because, when you think of babies - and as we're trying to express ourselves “mmm” - you know, there's a singing quality, and it's just primal, and we're born with this, and it's just something that is very freeing. It takes us out of ourselves. It's part of the creative spirit, but it also has no definite boundaries.
It's not like words. Words can so easily mean different things for different people. Music, of course it means something different for everyone, but everything it means is valid and whether you hear a piece in a certain way or a similar way to the way I hear a piece, it doesn't matter because both opinions are absolutely correct.
9:53
I think for everyone, music, music has that power. It has that capacity to take us outside of ourselves, or to remind us suddenly of a, you know, a certain breeze on a summer day or a certain smell or a certain food or a person that you - you loved from the past. I mean, music can do that and does do that for every single one of us. We're all born to experience music. We're hotwired as human beings to understand and relate to music and it's everyone's birthright and every single person is musical.
11:29
I think for me, music is about human connection and it's about - uh - trying to enable everyone around you to be the best they can be, and you too then , are the best that you can be as a result. And you know, this kind of aspiration to me keeps, keeps life in the positive zone.
I think that this piece means that no matter how difficult things get, we as human beings have the capacity to fix it and we have the responsibility to do that, too. It's about commitment and it's about speaking the truth and Beethoven ninth does all those things.
13:57
Terrance McKnight: That was conductor Marin Alsop talking us through the Finale from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Stick around, we’ll close out the rest of the movement right after this break.
[MUSIC PLAYING: Finale from Beethoven’s Symphony no. 9]
24:25
[OPEN EARS THEME MUSIC: Philip Glass’s Piano Etude No. 2]
Terrance McKnight: This is The Open Ears Project. Next week we’ve got a piece by Ravel. It will be brought to you by journalist and war correspondent, Dexter Filkins.
Dexter Filkins: Ravel himself had been, I think he was a driver in the first World War. I feel like this comes right out of that. He certainly understood, in his way, exactly what it feels like to go through that. You can feel it.
Terrance McKnight: The Open Ears project was conceived and created by Clemency Burton Hill. I’m Terrance McKnight and I'm just pleased to present season two of this podcast to you.
If you like what you hear, please leave us a rating and a review on your favorite podcast platform and, if you’ve got a story about a piece of classical music, we want to know. Email us at openears@wqxr.org. You can also head to our website, wqxr.org, to check out our other podcasts about classical music.
Season two of The Open Ears Project was produced by Clemency Burton-Hill and Rosa Gollan. Our technical director is Sapir Rosenblatt, and our project manager is Natalia Ramirez. Elizabeth Nonemaker is the executive producer of podcasts at WQXR, and Ed Yim is our chief content officer. I’m Terrance McKnight. Thanks so much for listening.
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