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The story is well known, it only needs to be mentioned briefly, precisely because the conductor Teodor Currentzis fortunately does not care at all when he is re-recording.
On the evening of December 8th, 1813, barely a month and a half after Napoleon was defeated in the Battle of Nations, there was dancing in the University of Vienna.
A benefit concert for the fallen.
Beethoven conducted, Spohr and Hummel and Meyerbeer played along.
"Wellingtons Sieg", Beethoven's smash hit, was born to cheers.
And the seventh symphony.
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The people stood on the chairs.
The second sentence had to be repeated.
It was one of the most patriotic second Sundays in Advent in the history of Vienna.
A fully choreographed score
And now to what Teodor Currentzis is interested in about this symphony, which is now truly not underrepresented in the catalog.
Nothing but the notes, nothing but what Beethoven wanted and was the first to write so explicitly in the score - the dynamics, the subtleties of the phrasing, the small parts from which Beethoven choreographed his score, which Wagner later wrote "Apotheosis of Dance" called.
Currentzis is not interested in speed records this time.
Throws everything in the history and story background (including Wagner) out of the temple, which he considers Beethoven's bright music building to be.
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Together with Musica aeterna, his almost faithful following orchestra, he takes every nuance, every phrase of this rhythmic-rhetorical masterpiece into his hand anew, refines it, sharpens it, puts everything under enormous tension.
Build a new sound speech, a new temple.
And let him dance.
Perhaps the ninth was not the Beethoven symphony before which contemporaries fell silent and from whose shadow it was difficult for descendants to emerge.
But - you could guess from this highly musical high-gloss transillumination - this score, finely chiseled down to the last ramifications, with which Beethoven fulfilled the catalog of specifications for the classical symphony and broke his chains.
However, you need - the dynamic space that Currentzis uses is the size of a cathedral and finely branched - a lonely evening with good headphones to hear every detail, which is important. Or very patient neighbors.