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Beethovenfest 2009

October 30, 2009

Beethoven revolutionized the classical music of his day by adding narrative. Listen to an excerpt from Symphony no. 6, performed by the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and Paavo Jarvi.

https://p.dw.com/p/JlqR
Paavo Jarvi
Image: DW

In the "Pastoral" - written in 1808, around the time of the Fifth Symphony - Beethoven introduced program music to the genre. With movement headings like "Scene by the Brook" and "Storm," it would seem to tell a story.

The composer himself, however, made a point of saying that this is music to convey a mood, not a particular situation. Our featured conductor concurs, telling DW that a specific description of the work would be too limiting: "The Pastoral Symphony can be taken completely as a piece of nature. But it can also be taken completely philosophically. This whole thing could easily be a year, or a life-cycle. It could be about a person. It could be a description of a day. It could be a description of whatever. It is my belief that it is not useful to describe music with words."

Nonetheless, the listener may well be advised to seek shelter for this rendition of the "Storm" movement, with an amazingly big sound from a rather small orchestra.

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