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I have coveted a copy of Beethoven's 9th for years now. I used to own a copy of the vinyl version of this symphony, which I haven't been able to find any where. It has a picture sleeve replica of "Apotheosis of a Saint". That picture simply expressed the ineffable joy Beethoven brought with this, possibly the most celebrated of all symphonies. While I dream of my near-native conductor, the late, great Sir Georg Solti with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and his rendition, I cannot complain about buying this scandalously cheap download version found here.
I am no musicologist, so if you're looking for the finer highlights of the merits of this particular recording, please look to some truly fine reviews by the other Amazon-ites. However, let me say that I am completely satisfied. This indelible work follows me in the car and even the fourth movement has been replanted in my brain, heart, and soul via MP3 player.
As a layman, I enjoyed Music Appreciation in my last semester of college. Although suffering from senioritis, I chose it for enrichment rather than out of mere exhaustion. I did my final project on this work. I found some aspects fascinating. Again, these facts may be embarrassingly rudimentary for some, so bear with me:
1.) Surely a genius, Beethoven composed the last (half?) of his symphonies, including this one, while stone deaf. (A fact to savor!)
2.) Innovating convention, Beethoven shocked critics by adding the ethereal chorus to his fabulous fourth movement. Panned by the aforementioned critics, the audiences were quite enthralled. More of a people's composer perhaps than Tchaikovsky and his well-meaning, but poorly dedicated "1812 Overture," (another celestial masterpiece), Beethoven truly deliver's a rapturous reading of Schiller's sublime poem, "Ode to Joy". If memory serves me correctly, Beethoven also switched the second and third movements where the second was traditionally subdued and the third more upbeat and/or frenetic. Foreshadowing teasingly goes through the middle two movements in fits and starts.
Another reviewer has flagged that this may not be the recording you think it is. This version was done on November 30, 1950 by Jansung Kakhidze, a Georgian conductor, but as I grow red in the face, I think that means Georgia of the former Soviet Union, rather than here in the States. Either way, I am discerning enough to hear differences between recordings, and yet I find this (allegedly H.igh D.efinition) work to be more than a satisfactory treatment. For those of you in "the cheaper seats" of the symphony hall, there's no excuse for not buying a truly coveted peasant's experience of a great and enriching piece of music.
(*I named my review after the exclamation drawn from Alex, Anthony Burgess's villain protagonist in his acclaimed novel 'A Clockwork Orange' also celebrated in Stanley Kubrick's innovative movie of the same title. The point being, even when life is degraded to the basest level, true decency and transcendence through music can be sustaining.)
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