Picks for Beethoven's 9th
Some recordings we like, and a app.
It's Week 2 for the Late Beethoven class, and coverage begins of his Symphony No. 9.
For those of you on iPads, there is an app called Beethoven's 9th symphony. This is from Touch Press, makers of the excellent app The Orchestra. It costs $14 for the full piece, but a full-featured preview of the first two minutes of the second movement is free. From the official description:
Four legendary performances of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony including Ferenc Fricsay’s first stereo recording of this work from 1958 with the Berliner Philharmoniker; Herbert von Karajan’s famous 1962 recording with the same orchestra; the widely loved and charismatic maestro Leonard Bernstein’s video recording from 1979 with the Wiener Philharmoniker; and the ground-breaking 1992 recording on period instruments conducted by John Eliot Gardiner.
Switch between these recordings anywhere on-the-fly without missing a beat.
Typeset score, simplified score and the hypnotic BeatMap precisely synchronised to all performances.
Specially commissioned synchronised commentary, book and in-depth musical analysis by David Owen Norris.
Over 90 minutes of specially filmed video insights from experts including John Eliot Gardiner, Gustavo Dudamel and several musicians from the Berliner Philharmoniker.
John especially recommends the Karajan recording (one of two very worthwhile recordings under his baton) and the Gardiner. His other picks include Chailly. All can be purchased below from Amazon: