Children's voices in the Nineth?

[euphony131]

Years ago, I heard or read somewhere that someone had done B's Nineth using children's voices either alone or augmenting the usual chorus. The idea really intrigued me. Perhaps it involved sectioning the choruses and bringing them in one at a time, ex. -- first the children sing, then the women, then the men, then finally all at once!

I may be dead wrong, but wasn't "The Moment of Glory" cantata the first and only time Beethoven used children's voices? I thought it was quite effective there.

Anyway, does anyone know of a recording where children's voices are incorporated into the 9th symphony? Looking through the Penguin Guide turned up nothing.

And while again on the subject of the Nineth, the Penguin Guide lists Benjamin Zander as recording a "conjectural version" using his own analysis of B's metronone markings. Has anyone heard this CD?

[Rod]

Originally posted by euphony131:
Years ago, I heard or read somewhere that someone had done B's Nineth using children's voices either alone or augmenting the usual chorus. The idea really intrigued me. Perhaps it involved sectioning the choruses and bringing them in one at a time, ex. -- first the children sing, then the women, then the men, then finally all at once!

I may be dead wrong, but wasn't "The Moment of Glory" cantata the first and only time Beethoven used children's voices? I thought it was quite effective there.

Anyway, does anyone know of a recording where children's voices are incorporated into the 9th symphony? Looking through the Penguin Guide turned up nothing.

And while again on the subject of the Nineth, the Penguin Guide lists Benjamin Zander as recording a "conjectural version" using his own analysis of B's metronone markings. Has anyone heard this CD?

The Glorious Moment (as it is more commonly known) is the only piece I'm aware of that specifically asks for children. I think this was done in the 9th when it was performed to celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall and 'Freude' was replaced by 'Freiheit'. Interestingly, the method you suggest of bringing the choruses in one at a time was not done with the 9th on the occasion I mention, as far as I can remember, but this IS done in The Glorious moment!

The only conjecture I know regarding the metronome markings for the 9th concerns the march section of the finale. The figure we have is extremely slow, and it has been assumed that this figure was an error by his nephew Karl who took down the marks for B. Gardiner takes the march quite fast bearing this in mind, I think G is correct from a both musical and structural standpoint. I presume Z has done the same?

Rod

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"If I were but of noble birth..." - Rod Corkin