For Beethoven Immortal, Pt. 1, hear electronic and electroacoustic works based on or inspired by Beethoven from electronic music composer Wendy Carlos, German artist Christian Löffler, New York composer Christopher Tignor and Canadian violinist Hollas Longton.
Listen to a classical realization of Ludwig Van by synthesizer pioneer Wendy Carlos from the score for Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange. In her unsettling and definitive re-composition of his Ode to Joy from the Ninth Symphony, she puts together a “chorus of artificial voices” via vocoder. Then, hear German musician, visual artist and producer Christian Löffler in an experimental electronica tribute to Beethoven. These reworks were inspired by early 20th-century 78s of symphonic Beethoven recordings by Staatskapelle Berlin and Berliner Philharmoniker. Listen, as Löffler riffs on the "Eroica" Symphony No. 3 and the Symphony No. 6, "Pastoral," where he “jamm[ed] on synths or on the piano to find melodies and sounds that kept the original idea but took it into my universe,” (Loffler press quote.)
Also, from New York-based composer, musician, and software engineer Christopher Tignor, listen to music for violin, looping, and electronics which starts from Beethoven and re-orchestrates “Ode to Joy.” Then, hear music by Victoria, BC-based violinist, and composer Hollas Longton, who adapted the first eighty-eight chords of the "Heiliger Dankgesang” from Beethoven’s String Quartet op.132 into a piece that came about from trying to figure out how to take the train from The Hague to Arnhem in the Netherlands.
Plus, there’s music from the duo of Nicholas DiEugenio, violin, and Mimi Solomon, piano, and their Unraveling Beethoven project commissioning works inspired by Beethoven's Violin Sonatas. From this project, hear a work by composer Robert Honstein, who is a founding member of the New York-based composer collective Sleeping Giant. And more.
Program #4441, Riffing on Beethoven (First Aired 12/15/2020)
ARTIST: Wendy Carlos
WORK: March from a Clockwork Orange (Beethoven Symphony No. 9, 4th mvmt, "Ode to Joy") [6:47]
RECORDING: A Clockwork Orange, Complete Original Score
SOURCE: East Side Digital ESD 81362
INFO: wendycarlos.com
ARTIST: Christian Löffler
WORK: Funebre [13:41]
RECORDING: PARALLELS Shellac Reworks (Beethoven)
SOURCE: Deutsche Grammophon
INFO: umusic.digital/parallels
ARTIST: Nicholas DiEugenio, violin; Mimi Solomon, piano
WORK: Robert Honstein: Olmsted I. Jamaica Pond [4:52]
RECORDING: Unraveling Beethoven
SOURCE: New Focus Recordings
INFO: newfocusrecordings.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: Hollas Longton
WORK: How To Get To Arnhem [5:53]
RECORDING: Music Works #129
SOURCE: musicworks.ca/magazine/back-issues
INFO: soundcloud.com/hollas-longton
ARTIST: William Orbit
WORK: Op. 132 [6:13]
RECORDING: Pieces In A Modern Style
SOURCE: WEA / Warner Music
INFO: Available at Amazon.com, AppleMusic, Spotify, and YouTube Music
ARTIST: Christopher Tignor
WORK: Ode to Joy [5:17]
RECORDING: Ode to Joy
SOURCE: Part of Western Vinyl's series, Composure: Classical Reworks for Modern Relief
INFO: christophertignor.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: Christian Löffler
WORK: Fate [4:08]
RECORDING: PARALLELS Shellac Reworks (Beethoven)
SOURCE: Deutsche Grammophon
INFO: umusic.digital/parallels