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A similar need to convey a clear message provides the momentum for Masur's Beethoven cycle which dominates his season with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. What is the reason for the strictly chronological programming? 'You can only understand Beethoven's path through life if you understand the point from which he started. And he starts already with a crazy beginning. The introduction to the First Symphony is just not normal! It makes you aware that he wanted to surprise the world. And he had enough imagination, enough fantasy to do it. You can say the first two symphonies are born of the spirit of Haydn and Mozart. Well, yes and no! 'In the Second Symphony you find already the main theme of the first movement of the Ninth. And - don't forget - it was at this time that he wrote the Heiligenstadt Testament. His discovery of his deafness is already evident in the music. 'These symphonies are all documents of a man with high morality, high education, who felt he was not composing for the sake of success, but to send a message to the people of the world. When he wrote his last symphony he was in the most miserable condition - and yet he wrote an Ode to Joy! What can this mean? It shows how much he felt in his soul about this Freude - about deep, transcendent joy - and you can feel it in every bar.' Masur's view of the Ninth Symphony is substantiated by many years of research into the tiniest details of the score. But which score? Masur opts for the Breitkopf and Härtel. He feels it is simply the most helpful in clarifying to conductor and players Beethoven's true intentions. Masur started work in 1963 on the autograph manuscripts in the Staatsbibliothek, Berlin. 'I discovered so many discrepancies between the published edition and the manuscript that I wrote an article to prove we must start all over again. For 20 years nothing happened; and then everyone was at it! 'Jonathan Del Mar has worked extremely hard in the Barenreiter edition. But I cannot agree with some of his decisions. A big mistake for me is that point in the Ninth Symphony where the choir sings "Steht vor Gott!" three times. In the original score, at the third cry, the chorus remains fortissimo, and the timpani makes a diminuendo - so that the sound of the human voice comes at you with full force. How can this be a mistake? What a genius idea to leave the human voice with the word "God" to shine out!' Masur reiterates yet again that, at every performance he gives, he feels the responsibility to bring to the audience the true message of the composer. 'For that it takes inspiration from the conductor - but also the spirit, the imagination of the orchestra. I've just read a wonderful saying of Einstein, that imagination is much more than knowledge. Knowledge is limited, but imagination goes beyond.' Hilary Finch is a music critic and feature writer for The Times. She also broadcasts frequently on BBC Radio 3. Back to top > |