Beethoven’s Ninth is much more than the well-known melody based on a text by Friedrich Schiller that preaches brotherhood among men: the Ninth is a musical monument from the first measure, an impressive work that makes us believe in peace between peoples and in the hope that we can be much better. These ideas, which Beethoven blindly defended, are expressed with intense, expressive and technically perfect music.
The Novena is more than the Hymn of joy. The first and second movements build up a performance that gives way to a slow third movement: “The most difficult of all the movements, and a challenge to conduct, is the Adagio, since it leads the entire symphony towards the final hymn.” says Tomàs Grau, chief conductor of the Franz Schubert Filharmonia.
In this year of its 200th Anniversary, Franz Schubert Filharmonia and Tomàs Grau recover a work that means more than an anniversary for the group with a tour of Catalonia. Beethoven’s Ninth was the work with which the Franz Schubert Filharmonia resumed live concert activity in September 2020, in a context of restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic and after a confinement that had canceled attended cultural activities of public. A historical moment full of challenges such as the distances between musicians, singers and the public, which are still remembered from the formation as a combination of emotion, uncertainty and effort.
The Ninth is a musical monument, it is a before and after in the history of music, since for the first time vocal soloists and a choir are used in a symphony. Together with the Franz Schubert Filharmonia, the Madrigal Choir will be in charge of providing vocals in this celebration of the work’s bicentennial. They are accompanied by top soloists Jone Martínez (soprano), Tànit Bono (mezzo-soprano), Eamonn Mulhall (tenor) and Carles Pachón (baritone), performers accustomed to the expressive intensity of Beethoven.
This program will be presented up to six times, on Friday, May 3, at eight in the afternoon, at the Tarragona Theater, on Sunday, May 5, at six in the afternoon, at the Terrassa Cultural Factory, on Tuesday, May 7 May, at eight in the afternoon, at the Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona, ??on Friday, May 10, at eight in the afternoon, at the Celler de Vila-seca, on Saturday, May 11, at eight in the afternoon, at the Municipal Cultural Center of Valls, and on Sunday, May 12, at seven in the afternoon, at the Enric Granados Auditorium in Lleida.
