Beethovens ninth Symphony is absolutely jaw dropping!!!

[hpowders]

I prefer the contrabassoon solo in the final movement played as a series of well-spaced farts.

Beethoven wrote a lot of great but vulgar music and this contrabassoon solo is among them.

[Florestan]

Beethoven wrote a lot of great but vulgar music

Such as?

[hpowders]

Such as?

Final movement, Second Symphony.

Grosse Fuge.

[Florestan]

Grosse Fuge.

Do you really find it vulgar?

[hpowders]

Do you really find it vulgar?

Yes. Vulgar as in "not pretty". Gruff, if you will. Vulgar but great.

[Florestan]

Yes. Vulgar as in "not pretty". Gruff, if you will.

Oh I see, but I must confess this is the strangest, most unusual and counterintuitive use of the word "vulgar" I have ever encountered in my entire life. 

[Mahlerian]

Yes. Vulgar as in "not pretty". Gruff, if you will. Vulgar but great.

There is also a good bit of pretty music out there that's also pretty vulgar.

[hpowders]

There is also a good bit of pretty music out there that's also pretty vulgar.

As for Beethoven's music, there is quite often an aggressive, in your face, rustic, masculine quality, bordering on the "vulgar" that I believe he learned from Haydn, but would have to be tortured to get him to admit it. His vertical finger at prettified, salon music, I guess. Whatever his intention, he succeeded wildly!

[Muse Wanderer]

Few years ago I listened to Beehoven's 9th by Karajan repeatedly for months on end. (Unfortunately I burnt myself listening to it so many times that now I only listen to it on very special occasions. I won't do the same mistake again! Once I feel burnout coming, I move to another work irrespective of how much I love the work.)

I was completely entranced by the marvellous structures Beethoven created. I aurally memorised every single note of that masterpiece. The staggering majestic first movement that is countered by the brilliant scherzo as second movement.

The third movement is a sublime slow and lyrical variation that mirrors the breathtaking adagio movement of Beethoven's Hammerklavier piano sonata.

The choral and final movement are the ultimate climax that befits the ending of Beethoven's symphony cycle. It comes at turbulent times when aristocracy and tyranny were being ousted by logic and reason.

The 9th symphony feels like Beethoven telling us to rejoice and celebrate humanity's greatest achievements. It is one of the pinnacles of our species, when music reached the essence of human insight not just as a celebration of art but as recognition of our place in the universe, as sentient beings looking outward at the universe and inwards at our own earthly social evolution.

[hpowders]

Few years ago I listened to Beehoven's 9th by Karajan repeatedly for months on end. (Unfortunately I burnt myself listening to it so many times that now I only listen to it on very special occasions. I won't do the same mistake again! Once I feel burnout coming, I move to another work irrespective of how much I love the work.)

I was completely entranced by the marvellous structures Beethoven created. I aurally memorised every single note of that masterpiece. The staggering majestic first movement that is countered by the brilliant scherzo as second movement.

The third movement is a sublime slow and lyrical variation that mirrors the breathtaking adagio movement of Beethoven's Hammerklavier piano sonata.

The choral and final movement are the ultimate climax that befits the ending of Beethoven's symphony cycle. It comes at turbulent times when aristocracy and tyranny were being ousted by logic and reason.

The 9th symphony feels like Beethoven telling us to rejoice and celebrate humanity's greatest achievements. It is one of the pinnacles of our species, when music reached the essence of human insight not just as a celebration of art but as recognition of our place in the universe, as sentient beings looking outward at the universe and inwards at our own earthly social evolution.

Nobody does the third movement more beautifully than Karajan in any of his recordings. Too many conductors take it disappointingly fast. If this is due to HIP scholarship, count me out (no pun intended).