Time 19:00
Witold Lutosławski Concert Studio of Polish Radio, Modzelewskiego 59, Warsaw
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May of 2024 marks two hundred years since the first performance of Ludwig van Beethoven’s famous Ninth Symphony. Although the composer had already left his hometown of Bonn and moved to Vienna in 1792 when he was only twenty-two, the premiere of perhaps his most renowned work was very close to taking place in London. In the end, however, the “last living spirit of German music” gave in to his friends and – after just two rehearsals with the full ensemble – the work was performed in Vienna by an orchestra composed of both professionals and amateurs, a choir, and soloists. Although critics pointed out the imperfections of this first interpretation, the audience received the new symphony with a great ovation, and Beethoven, although he could no longer hear, was able to experience the delight expressed by the enthusiastic listeners when one of the soloists turned him to face the audience.
Schiller’s text of Ode to Joy, which resounds in the final movement, inspired Beethoven from his early youth. The composer began to make his first plans to orchestrate it while still in Bonn, but he decided to implement them only in his late work. It was as if he was aware that the poetic vision of brotherhood in the pursuit of joy and happiness required perfection of form and maturity of musical language. The initial Allegro emerging from the fifth chords, the lively Scherzo in the Vivace tempo, and the lyrical Adagio that follows it, constitute an expressive journey to the extended last movement that concludes the entire composition. It is in that final section that the moving and universal message sung by the soloists and choir emerges from the dialogue of the orchestral instruments.
PROGRAM
Ludwig van Beethoven – Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125
Allegro ma non troppo e un poco maestoso
Scherzo. Molto vivace – Presto
Adagio molto e cantabile
Presto – Allegro assai; Allegro assai vivace (Alla marcia); Andante maestoso – Adagio ma non troppo, ma divoto; Allegro energico, sempre ben marcato – Allegro ma non tanto – Prestissimo
PERFORMERS
GABRIELA KAMIŃSKA SOPRANO
MONIKA LEDZION-PORCZYŃSKA MEZZOSOPRANO
RAFAŁ BARTMIŃSKI TENOR
ROBERT GIERLACH BARITONE
THE CHORUS OF THE POLISH ROYAL OPERA
THE CHAMBER CHOIR OF THE POLISH ROYAL OPERA
THE ACADEMIC CHOIR OF WARSAW UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
THE ORCHESTRA OF THE POLISH ROYAL OPERA
JAKUB SZAFRAŃSKI CHORUS MASTER
RENATA SZCZYPIOR CHAMBER CHOIR MASTER
DARIUSZ ZIMNICKI ACADEMIC CHOIR MASTER
DAWID RUNTZ CONDUCTOR
Duration: approx. 1h 25 mins
The seats in the auditorium are not numbered.
