![]() ![]() Nézet-Séguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra will be returning over the coming weeks to complete the Beethoven symphony cycle, which had originally been planned for 2020, and then subsequently cancelled. The premiere of Jeder Baum spricht, together with Beethoven’s 5th and 6th can be viewed here. If anything, Nézet-Séguin’s interpretation treated the first three movements lightly, giving the effect of three movements collectively acting as an anacrusis to the triumphal fourth, thus extending the opening motive across the entire span of the piece. Does it start on an upbeat? “No, you fool, that is an illusory anacrusis!” Nézet-Séguin did away with all that and launched into the piece with no fuss. This framing also solves a musical conundrum, namely, what to do with that opening phrase? I was brought up on the heavy German guys, whose interpretation of the 5th (especially, for example, Klemperer’s) evokes the image of a lone genius on the podium, taking a solemn moment to contemplate fate, and then, forcefully comes that knock. It was really quite brilliant, as if a bridge was created across the more than two hundred years separating the two pieces. So now Nézet-Séguin and the Orchestra have completely re-framed the opening of the 5th. There were actually some gasps in the audience! Habibi builds to a stunning cadence in Bb major, and then comes the shock: Beethoven’s 5th is played- attacca subito-on the final notes of Habibi’s piece. The piece contains echoes of both the 5th and the 6th: the storm scene, motivic allusions-including that very famous one-and is scored for the same forces as in the 5th. O God! What glory! In such a forest, in the heights is peace, tranquility, to serve him.)Īnd so, inspired by Beethoven’s vision of the trees speaking through God (and not, interestingly, the other way around), Habibi’s piece is a reflection and call to action on the climate crisis facing our planet. (Almighty in the forest! I am blessed, happy in the forest every tree speaks through you. O Gott! Welche Herrlichkeit! In einer solchen Waldgegend, in den Höhen ist Ruhe, Ruhe, ihm zu dienen. The title refers to a passage in one of Beethoven’s diaries from 1815:Īllmächtiger im Walde! Ich bin selig, glücklich im Wald jeder Baum spricht durch dich. 1985) to write a companion piece and overture to Beethoven’s 5th and 6th symphonies. The final two works on the program were Imam Habibi’s Jeder Baum spricht, and the 5th. ![]() So, how do you make that sound fresh, and relevant? Last night, at Carnegie Hall’s opening night concert, Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra showed us one way to do it, quite convincingly. How do you shock an audience with a performance of Beethoven’s 5th? It is the most often performed symphony, by the most often performed composer of symphonies, its opening notes perhaps the most recognized theme in all of classical music. ![]()
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