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Home , Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Antonio Pappano, Georg Solti, Klaus Tennstedt, Lucia Popp, Roger Norrington

BEETHOVEN Symphony No.9 in D Minor ‘Choral’

KLAUS TENNSTEDT conductor soprano ANN MURRAY mezzo-soprano RENÉ PAPE bass PHILHARMONIC and Friedrich von Schiller’s poem ‘’ turned round by the contralto soloist Caroline could almost have been calculated to appeal Unger to see hats and handkerchiefs being to the idealistic Beethoven. Written in 1785, waved frantically all over the hall. ‘The whole it lauds the joys of fellowship, the happiness audience was impressed, crushed by the of married life, the wonders of nature and greatness of your work’, wrote Beethoven’s the universe and the eternal mystery of friend Anton Schindler. Vienna may not have divine love, and as early as 1793 Beethoven always appreciated Mozart to the full, but it was considering setting it as a song. In 1812 certainly loved Beethoven. he attempted a ‘choral overture’ using parts of the text, but it was not for another decade The Ninth is not, strictly speaking, that he was to find a true home for it when Beethoven’s last symphony – in 1825 he he made it the subject of the extraordinary began but failed to complete another – and revolutionary finale to his Ninth and but it is a fitting summation of his last symphony, the first ever to include a mighty contribution to the genre’s history. choral movement. His achievement had been nothing less than that of bringing about an irreversible It was not just accommodating Schiller’s transformation in the entire concept of words that took a long time, however. what a symphony is, turning a piece of Although the symphony was essentially concert music designed primarily to entertain composed in a ten-month burst between into a psychological journey in which, over April 1823 and January 1824, there is a case the course of four movements, the listener’s for saying that Beethoven had been writing emotions undergo some kind of change. it for much longer – he had contemplated This could be triumph over adversity, as in the a D minor symphony as early as 1812, death and rebirth of the Eroica, or a passage immediately after the completion of the from darkness to light as demonstrated in Seventh and Eighth, while some of its musical the famous Fifth Symphony. In the Ninth, it ideas date back even further. Not that these is a journey from a bleak and brutal void to matters would have concerned the audience a glorious vision of an ideal world of love, at the work’s first performance in Vienna’s tolerance and universal brotherhood. Kärntnerthor Theatre in May 1824; for them the excitement lay in hearing Beethoven’s Certainly the shimmering strings which open first new symphony in twelve years, and the first movement seem to conjure a mood they lapped it up. At the end the applause of primeval emptiness before the music was thunderous, and the deaf composer was moves on into more combative regions. At the end, a sternly resolute theme Schiller’s message which dominates, and as emerges from the depths like a clenched the voices take over, we hear in the course fist. The second movement seems of further variations on the theme a vision straightforwardly joyful with its playful of Elysium that is by turns exultant and timpani beats (spontaneously applauded awestruck. ‘This gigantic work’, Hans Keller at the first performance), its interplay suggested, ‘should convince even the between the violins and its cheeky ending, firmest pessimist that mankind’s life has but there is more than a hint of seriousness been worthwhile.’ underlying it as well. The third movement is unambiguous in intent, however, a sublimely For , conspicuous success tender and beautiful set of variations on a came relatively late, but in the last two tune whose deceptively simple hymn-like decades of his life he was a major figure nature is a Beethoven speciality, above all on the international scene. in ‘late-period’ works. Born into a musical family in the Saxon town of Merseburg in 1926, his early path as And then the finale bursts in, startlingly a conductor in East was solid but and radically. At first the orchestra reviews unremarkable: having had to give up a career themes from all three earlier movements, as an orchestral violinist in Halle because of with the cellos and basses seeming to a hand problem, he held conducting posts at debate their worth in melodic phrases the Chemnitz , the Dresden Staatsoper which deliberately mimic the style of vocal and the Mecklenburg State Theatre in recitative. It is as if they are struggling to tell Schwerin. In 1971 he defected to the West, us something, yet it is also a dramatically initially to work at the Stora Theatre in enhanced continuation of the fragmentary, Gothenburg and the Kiel Opera, but by now groping introductions to the finales of two he was also well experienced as an orchestral earlier symphonies, the First and the Third. conductor, and when he stood in as a late Eventually, though, the orchestra hits on replacement for Karel Ančerl in Bruckner’s the now-famous folksong-like theme, but Seventh Symphony with the Toronto after they have played a few variations on it Symphony in 1974 the resulting rave reviews another upheaval leads to the first human changed his fortunes for ever. He went on to sounds – a bass soloist commanding us conduct all the major American , to discard all this in favour of ‘pleasing and when a sensational London debut and more joyful tones’. These words are followed in 1976 he was soon in demand Beethoven’s, but from here to the end it is with the big names in Europe as well. Posts were gained with the North German Radio the brash, punchy Beethoven introduced Symphony Orchestra and the Minnesota by the likes of Roger Norrington and Orchestra, before the London Philharmonic subsequently echoed even by conductors Orchestra made him its Principal Guest such as Rattle, Abbado and Haitink, Conductor in 1980. In 1983 he succeeded Sir Tennstedt’s preference is for the long phrase, as the Orchestra’s Music Director. the inexorably timed climax and the grandly With the LPO he would make a number of drawn gesture which place him firmly in a highly regarded recordings, mainly for EMI, line from the German Romantic tradition. including works by Beethoven, Wagner, ‘From the wrong end of the nineteenth Bruckner and Strauss, and a complete cycle century’ is how one reviewer characterised an of the Mahler symphonies that stands as earlier Tennstedt performance of the ‘Choral’, perhaps his greatest legacy. Yet fragile health but in an interview given in 1993 the now – his time in London coincided with two ailing conductor suggested an altogether hip replacements and treatment for throat more urgent interpretational imperative for cancer – meant that his appearances with his particular brand of musicmaking. ‘I live the orchestra were restricted, and when he now’, he said. ‘This is today!’ collapsed at a rehearsal in 1987 he resigned his post immediately. He continued to work Lindsay Kemp 2007 with them as Conductor Laureate, however, until his full retirement in 1994. His death came in Kiel four years later.

The emotional intensity and architectural sense which made Tennstedt so celebrated as a conductor of Mahler and Bruckner are well in evidence in this performance of Beethoven’s ‘Choral’ Symphony, recorded during a concert at London’s Royal Festival Hall in October 1992. This is epic, romantic Beethoven, which pays little or no heed to the radical and influential rethinkings that had recently been brought about by the period-instrument movement. Rather than 04 Presto

O Freunde, nicht diese Töne! Sondern O friends, not these sounds! lasst uns angenehmere anstimmen, und Rather let us strike up something more freudenvollere! pleasing and joyful!

Freude, schöne Götterfunken, Joy, lovely spark of the divine, Tochter aus Elysium, Daughter from Elysium, Wir betreten feuertrunken, Drunk with fire, we approach, Himmlische, dein Heiligtum! Heavenly one, thy shrine! Deine Zauber binden wieder Thy spells reunite Was die Mode streng geteilt; What convention has torn apart; Alle Menschen werden Brüder All humanity becomes brothers Wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt. Where thy gentle wings rest.

Wem der grosse Wurf gelungen Let him who has that great good fortune Eines Freundes Freund zu sein, A friend’s friend to be, Wer ein holdes Weib errungen Let him who has gained a charming wife Mische seinen Jubel ein! Join in rejoicing! Ja, wer auch nur eine Seele Yes, and whoever calls even one soul Sein nennt auf dem Erdenrund! Upon the earth his own! Und wer’s nie gekonnt, der stehle And he who never could, let him steal Weinend sich aus diesem Bund. weeping away.

Freude trinken alle Wesen All creatures drink joy An den Brüsten der Natur, At Nature’s breast, Alle Guten, alle Bösen All the good, all the evil Folgen ihrer Rosenspur. Follow her rosy trail. Küsse gab sie uns und Reben, She gave us kisses and the vine, Einen Freund geprüft im Tod, A proven friend to the death, Wollust ward dem Wurm gegeben, The worm was given sensual feelings, Und der Cherub steht vor Gott! And the cherub stands before God! Froh, wie seine Sonnen fliegen Glad, as his suns race Durch des Himmels prächt’gen Plan, Through the heavens’ glorious design, Laufet, Brüder, eure Bahn, Run your course, brothers, Freudig, wie ein Held zum Siegen. Joyful, like a hero to the victory.

Seid umschlungen, Millionen, Be embraced, you millions, Diesen Kuss der ganzen Welt! This kiss for all the world! Brüder, überm Sternenzelt Brothers, above the starry firmament Muss ein lieber Vater wohnen. A loving father must dwell.

Ihr stürzt nieder, Millionen? Do you fall to your knees, you millions? Ahnest du den Schöpfer, Welt? Do you feel the Creator’s presence, world? Such’ihn überm Sternenzelt! Seek him above the starry firmament! Über Sternen muss er wohnen. Above the stars he must dwell. LUCIA POPP ANN MURRAY soprano mezzo-soprano

Lucia Popp was one of the Ann Murray was born in

most distinguished lyric Leighton Trevor Dublin and studied with sopranos of her time. She was born in 1939 Frederic Cox at the Royal Manchester in , and began her performing College of Music. She has close links with career as an actress before training as a , with which she singer at the Academy of Music. has sung Handel’s Xerxes and Ariodante She made her stage debut at the Bratislava and Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda, and the Opera House as the Queen of the Night in , , where Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte – a role which she her many roles have included Cherubino, would very much make her own – and in Octavian, Despina and Giulio Cesare. Ann 1963 was engaged by Murray has appeared with many of the to perform at the Vienna Staatsoper. There world’s great orchestras and conductors followed an illustrious career in which and has been a regular guest at the BBC she performed at major opera houses Promenade Concerts at the Royal Albert throughout the world under some of Hall. Her operatic engagements have taken the most eminent conductors of the day, her to the cities of Hamburg, Paris, , amongst them Solti, Klemperer, Giulini, Cologne, Berlin, Amsterdam and Chicago, Bernstein, Kleiber and Rostropovich. Lucia and to companies including the Metropolitan Popp was also a renowned recitalist, concert Opera New York, the Vienna Staatsoper and Lieder singer, and had a particular and the Staatsoper. She holds fondness for the works of Strauss, Mozart, an honorary doctorate from the National Mahler and Haydn. Her many recordings won University of Ireland, an honorary fellowship her worldwide acclaim and a plethora of of the , and in the awards, including the Grand Prix du Disque 2002 Golden Jubilee Honours was named and three . Lucia Popp died an honorary Dame Commander of the Most in Munich in 1993 at 54 years of age. Excellent Order of the British Empire. ANTHONY ROLFE RENÉ PAPE JOHNSON bass tenor Born in Germany, René Anthony Rolfe Johnson, one Pape received his musical of Britain’s most distinguished singers, was education in his native city of Dresden. He born in 1940 and has since worked with all made his debut at the Berlin Staatsoper in the UK’s major orchestras and performed 1988 whilst still a student and has been a at the world’s leading musical festivals company member ever since. His operatic and centres. He has sung with the Chicago work incorporates many of the great Symphony Orchestra under Solti, the Boston Wagnerian roles for bass including Hans Symphony Orchestra under Ozawa, the New Sachs, King Marke, King Heinrich, Pogner, York Philharmonic under Rostropovich, the Fasolt and Hunding. He has appeared at under Rattle and the all the major opera houses and concert under Levine. Anthony halls in Europe, Japan, the USA, and at the Rolfe Johnson’s vast range of recordings , Bayreuth, , Orange, reflects his worldwide reputation as an Salzburg and Verbier Festivals. Among interpreter of great eclecticism from Bach his numerous recordings are Tristan und to Britten. His recordings of the Handel Isolde under , Lohengrin were widely acclaimed, whilst and Tannhäuser under , his recordings of Britten’s War , Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg under Sir Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte and Haydn’s Die Georg Solti and Die Zauberflöte under Schöpfung and Die Jahreszeiten won major , while his TV and DVD awards. Anthony Rolfe Johnson has appeared appearances include Le Nozze di Figaro under in operatic performances at Glyndebourne Daniel Barenboim, Die Zauberflöte in a film Festival Opera, the , the production directed by Kenneth Branagh, Vienna Staatsoper, the and from the Met, and New York the Bayerische Staatsoper, the Paris under . He has won two Opera and House, Covent Grammy Awards and was Musical America’s Garden. He was named a Commander of the Vocalist of the Year in 2002. Most recently, he British Empire in 1992. won a 2007 Award. KLAUS TENNSTEDT LONDON conductor PHILHARMONIC CHOIR

Born in East Germany, The London Philharmonic Choir was

Richard Richard Holt Klaus Tennstedt studied founded in 1947 as the chorus for the at the Leipzig Conservatory and conducted London Philharmonic Orchestra. It is widely throughout his native land, but it was not acclaimed as one of the nation’s finest until he moved to the West in 1971 that and consistently meets with critical acclaim. he started to achieve world recognition. Continuing to perform regularly with the He made his American debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1974 and Philharmonic Choir also works with many his debut with the London Philharmonic other orchestras throughout the United Orchestra in 1977. He had an instant rapport Kingdom and makes annual appearances at with the London Philharmonic Orchestra the BBC Proms. It has performed under some which resulted in return invitations and his of the world’s most eminent conductors – appointment as the Orchestra’s Principal among them , Mark Elder, Sir Conductor and Music Director in 1983. This , , Kurt developed into a unique and remarkable Masur, Sir Roger Norrington, Sir , relationship until illness finally brought it Sir Georg Solti and Klaus Tennstedt. The to a premature end some ten years later. London Philharmonic Choir has participated Tennstedt was particularly renowned for in more than seventy recordings, including a his performances of the German repertoire, Gramophone Award-winning performance especially Mahler whose symphonies of Mahler’s Eighth Symphony under Klaus he conducted regularly with the London Tennstedt. The Choir often travels overseas Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival and in recent years it has appeared at the Hall and on disc to huge public acclaim. Canary Islands and Lucerne music festivals, His energy, musicianship and emotional and given concerts in Europe, Hong Kong, involvement combined with a rare humility Malaysia and Australia. endeared him to audiences and musicians alike. Klaus Tennstedt died in 1998. London Philharmonic Orchestra

The London Philharmonic Orchestra is known in September 2007, succeeding . as one of the world’s great orchestras with The London Philharmonic Orchestra has a reputation secured by its performances been resident symphony orchestra at the in the concert hall and opera house, its Royal Festival Hall since 1992 and there it many award-winning recordings, its presents its main series of concerts between trail-blazing international tours and its September and May each year. In summer, pioneering education work. Distinguished the Orchestra moves to Sussex where it conductors who have held positions with has been the resident symphony orchestra the Orchestra since its foundation in 1932 at Glyndebourne Festival Opera for over 40 by Sir include – alongside years. The Orchestra also performs at venues Klaus Tennstedt – Sir , Bernard around the UK and has made numerous Haitink, Sir Georg Solti and Franz Welser- tours to America, Europe and Japan, and Möst. was appointed the visited India, Hong Kong, China, South Korea, Orchestra’s Principal Guest Conductor in Australia and South Africa. March 2003, becoming Principal Conductor The London Philharmonic Orchestra with Klaus TennstedtOrchestrawith RoyalPhilharmonic London the FestivalThe at Hall

Richard Haughton 1770–1827

71:58 Symphony No.9 in D minor, Op.125 ‘Choral’

01 16:53 Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso 02 09:23 Molto vivace 03 18:40 Adagio molto e cantabile 04 26:51 Presto

KLAUS TENNSTEDT conductor LUCIA POPP soprano ANN MURRAY mezzo-soprano ANTHONY ROLFE JOHNSON tenor RENÉ PAPE bass LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA and CHOIR Joakim Svenheden leader Jeremy Jackman chorus master

Recorded live at ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL London

LPO – 0026