Beethoven: Choral Fantasy, Op.80 (Barnatan, Shelley)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 มิ.ย. 2024
- Is this work kitsch as hell? Well, yes. Do its seams show? Well, sometimes. Is it one of the most joyous, life-affirming, indispensable things Beethoven ever wrote? Also yes.
There possibly is no other work (Bolero, perhaps?) that illustrates how silly it can be to think of music as ink on a page, or even ideas in the head, because so much of what is in here that looks ordinary (even crude) is aurally extraordinary. For a work that began life as a jury-rigged concert-closing crowd-pleaser, and whose individual parts (outside the piano opening) don’t especially impress, the Op.80’s got a lot going for it.
For a start: structure. For one reason or another, Beethoven always got this right. At first glance, this work is absurd - a 3-minute introduction followed by a 15-minute “Finale”. But the “Finale” is in fact very neatly structured: a theme and variations packaged into sonata form, with the recapitulation featuring added choir and solo voices (a stunt B. repeated in his 9th Symphony).
The work also features consistently clever thematic manipulation, and its most poignant passages (Var.7, the transition into the Finale’s recap) all feature transformations of the main theme so deft and organic they easily pass unnoticed. Added on to this of course is the sheer variety of Beethoven’s writing: there’s the disarming intimacy of the opening variations, which gently guide you through small constellations of instruments, exploring their colours; there follow concertante passages, lyrical explorations in B and A major, a march, and eventually, the ecstatic exuberance of the final variations (with canons in the mix, because why not?).
In the end, though, the loveliest quality of this work is the total, anti-ironic earnestness of Beethoven’s writing. There’s lots of places here that could be mentioned, but my favourite is the climax of this work (19:03) in which Beethoven highlights the word “Kraft” (“strength”) with a unexpected chromatic mediant shift to Eb. It’s a great moment, and Beethoven evidently likes it so much that, instead of ending the work right after, he quite deliberately circles back and repeats a good bunch of preceding material so that he can present the moment to the audience again. (More evidence: when Beethoven wrote to Breitkopf & Härtel to suggest obtaining a new text for the libretto, he asked that the word “Kraft” or something similar had to be kept in its place.)
The two performances here have accompanied me on the way to work for quite a few years now - few works lift my mood this well. Barnatan (accompanied by the ASMF) has a unassuming, natural style, so that it only gradually creeps up on you how excellent this recording is. The opening, in fairness, is hair-raisingly dramatic - Barnatan summons a huge sound, and his rubato is cunningly judged (that little pause on the first RH chord, and the drastic slowdown on the octave descent in each bar). There are also nice details in the introduction, such as the clearly projected RH inner line at 3:07. But if I were forced to generalise, I’d say that the focus here is on generating an unaffected, direct line to the music. There are some very nice results: the A major variation is extraordinarily tender, and in the finale at 18:08 the sudden shift in metric gear is very audible.
Shelley (accompanied by the Orchestra of Opera North, which really should be much more well-known) is vibrant, alert, improvisatory. I’ve not heard a recording of the Op.80 that exceeds this one for sheer happiness. Right from the opening the contrast with Barnatan is clear; Shelley accelerates on the rising semiquavers, and entire Adagio is faster, laden with tension. The sense of improvisation persists even after the entrance of the orchestra - in Var.1, for instance, the tempo shifts to emphasise the contour of the semiquaver line. Shelley also tends to highlight interesting detail, such as the piano’s staccato/slur-staccato articulation in Var.8, or the punchy martial accents in Var.9. In the final variations, the voices are more extroverted and present than in Barnatan’s account, and feature liberal use of vibrato - this makes for the most fun Var.11 I’ve heard, and the entry of the entire choir in Var.12 is breathtaking.
Barnatan:
00:00 - Adagio
03:49 - Finale, Part 1 (Vars. 1-5)
08:53 - Finale, Part 2 (Vars. 6-9)
15:19 - Finale, Part 3 (Vars. 10-12)
Shelley:
19:43 - Adagio
23:00 - Finale, Part 1 (Vars. 1-5)
27:45 - Finale, Part 2 (Vars. 6-9)
33:49 - Finale, Part 3 (Vars. 10-12) - เพลง
Adagio: a through-composed improvisation
00:00 - Part 1. Rising/falling arpeggio motif (a), following by running scale (b) that gradually grows in ferocity.
01:15 - Part 2. (a), now suddenly in E.
02:36 - Part 3. A massive, modulating expansion of (b).
Finale, Part 1 (theme + strict variations)
03:49 - Finale, Allegro: introduction. The improvisatory character is maintained, and a faux-dramatic dialogue begins between piano and strings. Horn calls at 4:55 lead to
05:16 - Theme, in the piano. Striking similarity to the “Ode to Joy” from Symphony 9.
05:49 - Var.1. Flute semiquavers, gentle pulses from the piano.
06:17 - Var.2. Two oboes in thirds, piano carrying an absentminded oom-pah.
06:44 - Var.3. Two clarinets take a legato line, supported by a bassoon unspooling semiquavers beneath.
07:10 - Var.4. A quartet. Sudden intimacy.
07:34 - Var.5. Theme in full orchestral tutti.
07:59 - Transition; concertante dialogue. The piano has some fun with a trill + closing figure motif.
Finale, Part 2 (free variations = development)
08:53 - Var.6, in Cm. Theme is radically diminuted. Dramatic phrases alternate between piano and orchestra in concertante style. A long modulating tail that plays on the upbeat opening of the theme takes us - with surprising delicacy - into B major.
09:23 - Var.7, in B. The theme is reduced gradually into a descending scale, which modulates beautifully through Bm, G, Em, C, Am, and F (a chain of R+L transformations, in neo-Riemannian terms). Once F is reached, the scale takes on a two-note slurred articulation and is passed between the violins and violas. It moves through the circle of fifth to reach Am. A dramatic and prolonged series of cadences leads to an extended set of trills on E.
10:35 - Var.8, in A. The woodwinds state a compressed version of the theme, before the piano takes flight with a lyrical line. When the woodwinds next return, the piano accompanies with the same trill that provide the transition into this variation. There is a tender, dreamlike coda at 12:04.
13:32 - Var.9, in C. Theme is transformed into a march with a strongly displaced metric accent. Woodwinds and brass prominent. The piano explodes joyously into the codetta (13:57).
14:24 - Transition. A series of lithe, tense modulations culminates in a big diminished 7th arpeggio. (Nice touch: the pizzicato string figure that starts at 14:38 recalls the first four notes of the theme, and turns into into a descending figure that’s the four notes of the theme *after* the first two notes).
Finale, Part 3 (= recapitulation with choir and solo voices)
15:19 - The finale’s introduction returns.
15:45 - Following part 1’s scheme, the horn calls renter, now accompanied by lush piano arpeggios. Voices supplement the horn call at 16:02.
16:05 - Var 10. Theme as first heard, now in soprano/alto.
16:33 - Var 11. Theme in tenor/bass. Piano RH busy with trills, recalling the transition between Vars.5 and 6.
17:02 - Var 12. Full choir + orchestra. Analogue of Var.5.
17:26 - Codetta, directly reusing the transition between Vars.5 and 6. At 17:46, theme in canon between tenor & soprano, with some very effective modifications (e.g., the expressive leap at 17:55). After this the theme enters in full, building in strength until it we reach the.
18:09 - Coda. Opens with the tail of the previous passage, now at a much faster tempo. A piano scale in treacherously rapid filled octaves leads into a truncated statement of the theme’s opening phrase.
18:17 - The theme is extended in the voices; it climactically shifts into an Eb chord (reinforced by an epic timpani entry) at 18:22, which in turn resolves into a 6/4 C chord. (B. pulls off a nearly identical trick in the finale 9th too). A cadential 1/6/4/5 loop enters, throbbing with energy, but we are denied final closure. Instead, everything from the canonic entry of the theme onward is repeated (18:38).
19:18 - Closing phrases, featuring a diminuted version of the theme in the strings.
Why do you say the adagio is through-composed? Material is repeated.
wake up babe new axk video just dropped
Imagine yourself back in the day at one of Beethovens concerts where this hell of a banger is premiered ALONGSIDE his symphonies 5 and 6!!!
That concert was so poorly executed that Wikipedia has entire article on it. I still would have enjoyed seeing the master, though.
I love how clear the middle voice is at 3:07 when it comes in. It makes that part so exciting
Kitsch is the last word that comes to mind. It has many captivating musical effects that would please even undiscriminating listeners, but also the great depth of Beethoven's genius that can move those highly trained in music. To me, that is what great art does.
One of the most underrated Masterwork of Beethoven. Finally its uploaded in this channel
I was performing this Op. 80 with 3 University choir groups, which, in rehearsals, there were different pickup pace and tempo among the echoes, I held tight on my own tempo. I was feeling the super excitement and joy in between, especially we were magicially in sync in the actual performance evening on stage! And I could overcome those ascending octaves till the end with speed x1.5 pushed by us, young souls.
I wish I could play as smoothly and breath-taking as Shelley here! Excellent choice, as always, Ashish!
This is definitely one of the works of all time
It is indeed such a work
no
What?
To me this is just a bitesized 9th symphony! I can't help notice how similar the 'Kraft' moment you point out is to the 'vor Gott' in the finale of the 9th (just before the march). Not to mention how clearly similar the main theme is to the ode to joy theme in the first place!
Somehow I'd never really listened to this piece (heard it a time or two on classical NPR). It's fantastic, like just about everything LvB wrote. Definitely hear it as a kind of sketch for the 9th Symphony's finale, but it stands marvelously well on its own. The first few variations when the various orchestral instruments get their own solos are beautiful (especially the flute solo) and the piano fits in well with everything else that's going on - I particularly love those rapid-fire triplet chords towards the end.
Thanks, as always, for posting it, Ashish!
This work is one on its kind. And more beyond the complexity and inusual of its structure, goes far beyond of what we think usually as art. When I think of the "Choral Fantasy" I feel indeed grateful and happy to be alive.
This is one of the summits of the musical literature and a piece that only the greatest composer ever would be able to create.
Including Shelley in a concertante work selection kind of goes without saying, but I must say that Inon Barnatan is a lowkey favourite pianist of mine these days. Excellent Beethoven concerto cycle next to the likes of Helmchen, and his chamber music collabs with Alisa Weilerstein have been continually amazing. I'm really happy to see him featured!
Never heard this piece before, it’s amazing.
This piece’s chorus sounds like Beethoven’s last symphony… I am sure that he composed his greatest work thanks to this fantasy.
Definitely an interesting work.
The part around 25:23 showed me even another way Beethoven could sound!
One of my favourite pieces by Beethoven. I love the presentation with the scores.
2:48 This theme is addictive
I've nerver been so happy after a ashish vídeo like today
Beethoven lives forever.
Probably the greatest musical genius of all time
"Theme, in the piano. Striking similarity to the “Ode to Joy” from Symphony 9"
Thankfully I'm not the only person to have heard this! I'm sitting in the other room humming along to 'ode to joy' and it fits and doesn't at the same time. The whole movement is reminiscent of that.
Yes! Over and over, tiny tidbits of the 9th are showing up here. I'm wondering which was a sketch for which.
Comentario #80, Op.80
Una de mis canciones favoritas, hay una relación bastante fuerte entre esta obra y la sinfonía número nueve de Beethoven, mi parte favorita es esta 5:13. 🎹 🍃
one of my favorite Beethoven pieces (although to be truthful I wish he had done a little more editing)
The piano part is definitely a master piece, then the prophecy about the 5the piano concerto and the ninth symphony follows!
To me this piece is the intersection of the Emperor symphony, the Choral symphony, the triple concerto, and the C minor concerto with the faintest echos of the Magic Flute.
Capolavoro assoluto
This is just titanic. Only a genius like Beethoven could possibly create art like this.
@AshishXiangyiKumar thank you for bringing us such fine music everytime. Love your channel!
Will you do the other schubert sonatas? (The C minor, the D major, the unfinished, the a minor a majors etc)
В некоторых моментах мелодия сильно напоминает мелодию из Оды к радости😮
Многие моменты потом использовались в 9 симфонии. В этом произведении Беховен можно сказать тренировался. Я воспринимаю это произведение как прелюдию к 9 сифонии
Хоральная фантазия поистине одно из величайших для меня произведений для оркестра. То как постепенно вводятся инструменты, то как устроена финальная часть - это великолепно
It’s wonderfull
Some parts sound just like something from the fifth piano concerto. I think I mixed these two in my head a fair bit.
What is this song?
The Fantasy for piano, vocal soloists, mixed chorus, and orchestra, Op. 80, usually called the Choral Fantasy, was composed in 1808 by then 38-year-old Ludwig van Beethoven. Beethoven intended the Fantasy to serve as the concluding work for the benefit concert he put on for himself on 22 December 1808; the performers consisted of vocal soloists, mixed chorus, an orchestra, and Beethoven himself as piano soloist. The Fantasy was designed to include all the participants in the program and thus unites all of these musical forces. The Fantasia was first performed at the Akademie of 22 December 1808, a benefit concert which also saw the premieres of the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies and the Fourth Piano Concerto as well as a performance of excerpts of the Mass in C major. To conclude this memorable concert program, Beethoven wanted a "brilliant finale" that would unite in a single piece the different musical elements highlighted in the concert night: piano solo, mixed chorus and orchestra. The Fantasia, Op. 80, written shortly before, was thus composed expressly to fulfil this role. Beethoven himself played the piano part and the opening solo offers an example of his improvisational style (at the premiere he did, in fact, improvise this section).
Beethoven wrote the piece during the second half of December 1808 in an unusually short time by his standards. He commissioned a poet-whose identity is disputed-to write the words shortly before the performance to fit the already written parts. According to Beethoven's pupil Carl Czerny, the poet was Christoph Kuffner [de],[1] but the later Beethoven scholar Gustav Nottebohm doubted this attribution and suggested it may have been Georg Friedrich Treitschke, who in 1814 prepared the final text of Beethoven's opera Fidelio. The premiere performance seems to have been a rather troubled one; according to the composer's secretary, Anton Schindler, it "simply fell apart", a result most likely attributable to insufficient rehearsal time. Because of a mistake in the execution of the piece, it was stopped halfway through and restarted.[3] In Ignaz von Seyfried's words:[4][5]
When the master brought out his orchestral Fantasia with choruses, he arranged with me at the somewhat hurried rehearsal, with wet[6] voice-parts as usual, that the second variation should be played without repeat. In the evening, however, absorbed in his creation, he forgot all about the instructions which he had given, repeated the first part while the orchestra accompanied the second, which sounded not altogether edifying. A trifle too late, the Concertmaster, Unrath, noticed the mistake, looked in surprise at his lost companions, stopped playing and called out dryly: 'Again!' A little displeased, the violinist Anton Wranitzky asked 'With repeats?' 'Yes', came the answer, and now the thing went straight as a string. Michael Broyles has suggested another musical similarity: the two works share essentially the same harmonic sequence at their climactic moments, the chords (in C major) C-F-D-(G)-E♭, where the E♭ stands out from its harmonic context and is performed fortissimo. The words sung at this point are (for the Choral Fantasy) "Lieb und Kraft" ("love and strength") and (for the Ninth Symphony) "Über'm Sternenzelt! Über Sternen muss er wohnen." ("Above the tent of the stars, above the stars he must dwell.")[7]
There are also affinities in the texts. The theme of the Choral Fantasy text - universal fraternity with the meeting of arts - evokes similar feelings as the "Ode to Joy" text.
Beethoven himself acknowledged the kinship of the two works. In a letter of 1824, when he was writing the Ninth Symphony, he described his project as "a setting of the words of Schiller's immortal 'Lied an die Freude' in the same way as my pianoforte fantasia with chorus, but on a far grander scale."[8]
The Choral Fantasy theme is itself taken from an earlier work by Beethoven: it is a slightly modified version of the composer's "Seufzer eines Ungeliebten - Gegenliebe,” a lied for high voice and piano written c. 1794-1795.[9]
In my opinion the best recording of this fantastic masterpiece is Leif Ove Andsnes.
That’s absolutely true
I second this recommendation.
I’m getting a lot of his ninth symphony in this piece
choral fantasy! even though it's probably not the best piece beethoven wrote it's still a guilty pleasure of mine to listen to lol
oooww this is interesting
“Let’s write a draft for the grand finale of my symphony. Actually, no, this could be a nice work by itself.”
So much 9th in there!
Okay, this work is really good, and i can see that you are not used to make videos with orchestra, but for the first time (i think it's the first time), you are really good, much better than me lol.
Look for beethoven piano concerto specially minnaar's atempts and bach piano concerto Dinnerstein's attempt. Both at this chennel.
@@VSSPiano i mean orchestra sheet music
@@FelipeFerreira7 oh, ok!
Based!
Wow
Kitsch? Not at all, unless all of Beethoven is kitsch. It's not one of his most inspired pieces, tho it seems itself to have inspired the 9th. And is a lovely, and surely conscious homage to Die Zauberflote.
I love opera North 😁
This shit slaps
the introduction reminds me of Mozart's sonata no. 14
Thx for uploading ...
진짜 좋아하는 곡인데...ㅠㅠㅠ 너무좋다
My preferred recording remains Barenboim with the Berlin Phil
asmf play brilliantly
Ja! Das Oktoberfest ist hier!
Wishing You a very happy October Festival, from Heaven 🍻 O'zapft is!
Anyone else here the "Ode to Joy-esque" theme around the 6:45 mark?
Echoes of Oda For Joy. Beautiful.
Curiosly, as a Beethoven fan, i didn't really know this work. It has to be because of how much i dislike the Triple Concerto and how they usually come paired.
Why don't you post some of Mozart's piano concerti?
I think i've read he doesn´t really like Mozart's piano compositions.
they're just not as good unfortunately
18:40-19:38
16:02
Robert Levin?
Maurizo Pollini.
Well it definitely had to be Beethoven
😕🫤☹️
this work rocks! I always loved it so much (I always loved all Betthoven so much)! Helley left me totally indifferent, Barnatan seemed to me more satisfying but nothing can make me change my mind... from any point of view, I prefer Barenboim in this: no artistic compulsions, simplicity, subtleness, deep knowledge of the text and of the composer, he lets himself fully immerged into Beethoven's reality and fantasy and natrrative.. while listening to him one forgets the pianist and experiences the music and the mind/psyche behind it
Argh! I've been found by a Barenboimer! There's no escaping them these days
@@AshishXiangyiKumar lol! yes I admit ☺
I'm genuinely baffled by the popularity of Barenboim, because I've always found his Beethoven interpretations to be rather lackluster. Am I missing something?
I, too, struggle to appreciate Barenboim's Beethoven. I mean, it's decent, but I can't say I've been awed. Personally I prefer Levit, Richter or Uchida (to name a few).
Madonna
Missed: Tch. piano concerto ... it is in there and you say this. I am getting there.