The free download offers only 2 minutes of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, but that’s enough to get anyone with more than passing curiosity hooked on a new app from Britain’s Touch Press that brings together four great Deutsche Grammophon recordings of the full work from the last 55 years together with a pile of commentary, background and interactivity.
- Classical Music 101: What Does A Conductor Do? - June 17, 2019
- Classical Music 101 | What Does Period Instrument Mean? - May 6, 2019
- CLASSICAL MUSIC 101 | What Does It Mean To Be In Tune? - April 23, 2019
Just a decade ago, it would have taken three or four reference books, a couple of DVDs and the deft handling of four sets of CDs to even begin to approximate the possibilities contained in this app, designed to work with Apple mobile products (iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch).
(In an illustration of price deflation in the music biz, all this sells for $13.99 (U.S.) — $7.99, if you’re willing to settle for the miniaturized view from your iPhone. And, would you believe it, there are App Store users complaining about the high price.)
The oldest recording on offer is from 1958: the first stereo album of the iconic Beethoven work on Deutsche Grammophon, by conductor Ferenc Fricsay. The Berlin Philharmonic is also present with Herbert von Karajan, from 1962. On video are Leonard Bernstein and the Vienna Philharmonic.
The producers have also included an historically informed performance on period instruments by the Orchestre révolutionnaire et romantique, conducted by John Eliot Gardiner.
There are graphics that show which section of the orchestra is playing the most prominent music. There is a choice of seeing a full score — either in a recent, scholarly edition or Beethoven’s manuscript — or a short score, highlighting the most important sections of the orchestra for any given passage.
My favourite feature from the experience is being able to switch between performances on the fly, and end up in exactly the same spot, despite the fact that there are significant differences in tempos between conductors.
It’s also fun to play pitch-change between the modern orchestras and the period instruments.
This whole experience is a laugh-out-loud-at-its-beauty showcase of the wonders awaiting the world of art music in the early 21st century.
To go to the appropriate page in Apple’s App Store, click here.
Here’s one of the promotional videos from Touch Press:
Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, The Full iPad Experience from Touch Press on Vimeo.
John Terauds
- Classical Music 101: What Does A Conductor Do? - June 17, 2019
- Classical Music 101 | What Does Period Instrument Mean? - May 6, 2019
- CLASSICAL MUSIC 101 | What Does It Mean To Be In Tune? - April 23, 2019
