After we had been to Closer, we went to Clapham's finest Tapas restaurant, La Rueda. Jimmy reckons he has never been there. I am sure we have been there together, he says it was the other one. Perhpas I went there with an ex-boyfriend, or perhaps with my brother and his then girlfriend, now wife. Whatever. It's a damned fine restaurant, although I find the shrine in worship of Sevriano Ballesteros to be slightly scary.
I proceeded onto the Royal Festival Hall for the last episode of the London Philharmonic's Beethoven Cycle under Kurt Masur.
On the menu were the Eighth and Ninth Symphonies. The Eighth is one of his lesser symphonies, possibly the afternoon off of a genius. But it;s all relative isn't it? I am comparing it to the Fifth, sixth and seventh that preceded it, which are truly great and innovative works of art, and th eNinth which followed, which is sui generis, and I currently feel, is the greatest piece of music ever written.
The Eighth was highly enjoyable, a polished and flawless performance. Haydnesque, I would say. The young chap next to me was a tad confused and asked "Right, so, erm, that was the Eighth?" I agreed and explianed the Cycle concept. "But that's really just the warm-up?" I hesitated for a moment and firmly nodded with an emphatic yes.
There are not that many pieces to which Beethoven's Eighth could be considered a mere prelude.
But after the interval was Beethoven's Ninth. It is obligatory to mention the soloists - Christine Brewer, Carolin Masur, Thomas Studebaker and Alaistair Miles - but I do not feel it is especially a 'soloists'' piece. The four singers are essential as an ansemble. A poor, or even mediocre bass could mar a performance, and a superb soprano is required for a glorious soar at the climax.
But of course, we always forget, Beethoven's Ninth consists of four movements - well, I reckon five, but Beethoven said four - whose word do you accept. Possibly movements 1-3 are the most underrated symphonic movements ever. Utter utter genius, but much of the audience is waiting in tenterhooks with baited breath for the arrival of the soloists to herald the start of the undisputable greatest symphonic movement, ever.
Kurt Masur conducted the first three movements at a spanking space. Herbie+, I thought, thinking about the favourite interpretation that I have in my collection. Well, to be honest, I didn't think much at all. I just wallowed, utterly absorbed, in sumptuous music performed better than I have ever heard it performed before, live, recorded, or broadcast.
And the soloists arrived and the fourth movement begun. Utterly beautiful, utterly all-embracing, goose-bump causing. I suspect already that this will be one of my performance highlights of 2005. Alastair Miles gave a performance at least equal to the great José van Dam as i have on CD. Christine Brewer, one of the most talked about sopranos of the moment was utterly gorgeous. And the lesser parts acquitted themselves well.
I have just attempted to play my CD and have realised to my horror that it is totally worn out. I thought CDs were supposed to last for ever, allowed to be smeared with Marmite and stamped into the ground. Admittedly I have had this CD fourteen years and have played it so many times. But, i am just waiting until Amazon's server gets its arse into gear before I order a replacement
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