Work of the Week – Ludwig van Beethoven/Pedro Halffter: Symphony No. 9

Back to the origin of the symphony: On 25 June 2023, the Klassische Philharmonie Bonn and the Barock Vokal Akademie will perform the world premiere of Pedro Halffter’s new arrangement of Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 as part of the RheinVokal Festival in Ingelheim. Pedro Halffter will be the conductor. 

Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 is a tremendous legacy and plays an important role in Europe today. The melody from the final movement was the anthem of the all-German team at the Olympic Games between 1952 and 1964 and has been the official anthem of the European Community since 1985. In addition, the recording capacity of the CD was expanded because the former Sony vice-president, Norio Oga, wanted to hear the symphony without having to change the CD. Beethoven himself spent six years composing his piece and with it he experienced his last concert. In this work, Beethoven combines the classical form of the symphony with a hymn-like, theatrical finale with text from Schiller’s An die Freude.

Sound-powerful Symphony No. 9 by Ludwig van Beethoven/Pedro Halffter

Pedro Halffter, son of the composer and conductor Cristóbal Halffter, has altered the instrumentation of Beethoven's mighty Symphony No. 9 to the size of a chamber orchestra with a small choir. One might assume that this smaller instrumentation would take away the work’s iconic orchestral grandeur; however in the early nineteenth century, Beethoven's symphonies were performed on a much smaller scale. These works were usually written and performed for the entourage dukes and kings. In that sense, the abridged version is closer to a performance of that time over the large ensembles in the Wagnerian performance tradition.

Classical music is neither elitist nor difficult to understand, but it does require the effort to listen to a symphony for an hour and a half. (Pedro Halffter)

Pedro Halffter has also arranged an abridged version of Symphony No. 9 for chamber ensemble with timpani and percussion. Both were composed in 2020 and commissioned by Villa Musica Rheinland-Pfalz.

Links:

Ludwig van Beethoven: Composer Profile

Pedro Halffter: Composer Profile

Sinfonie Nr. 9: Work Details and Online Score

Website Klassische Philharmonie Bonn

Website RheinVokal Festival

Foto: Unai P. Azaldegui