# Smokingest Version of Beethoven's Ninth? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 21, 2002, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokingest-version-of-beethovens-ninth/144227 "2002-12-21T15:52:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2002, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokingest-version-of-beethovens-ninth/144227/21 "2002-12-23T15:21:11Z")
Because the version in Fantasia was Beethoven’s _Sixth_. ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2002, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokingest-version-of-beethovens-ninth/144227/22 "2002-12-23T18:30:47Z")
> [@](#): > > I wonder who performs it in NYC. . . If you’re in NYC, your best bet is the NY Philharmonic. Their web site is [http://www.newyorkphilharmonic.org/home.cfm](http://www.newyorkphilharmonic.org/home.cfm) . This year they’re doing LVB’s Fifth, also worth hearing (understatement). Many orchestras do a Beethoven symphony every year, so just watch for your opportunity. Or you could come to Memphis on May 3. I’ll be in the chorus. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2002, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokingest-version-of-beethovens-ninth/144227/23 "2002-12-24T00:02:05Z")
One of the high points of my life was getting to sing in the chorus of B’s 9th… Awesome. Awesome awesome awesome. Perhaps the greatest piece of art in the history of mankind. I’m fond of [this](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000001G6W/qid=1040688039/sr=1-30/ref=sr_1_30/103-0465634-1483824?v=glance&s=classical) recording, plus it’s cheap. Now I **must** see _Immortal Beloved_. Oh, and… (horns) Ba-bum, bum bum Ba-bum, bum bum Ba-bum, bum bum \*\*Freude, schoner Gotterfunken, Tochter aus Elysium, wir betreten feuertrunken, Himmlische, dein Heiligtum. Deine Zuber binden wieder was die Mode streng geteilt, alle Menschen werden Bruder wo dein sanfter Flugel weilt \*\* ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2002, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokingest-version-of-beethovens-ninth/144227/24 "2002-12-24T00:51:55Z")
I like the Saturday Night Fever version. :: d&r :: ---
**Author:** ![pantom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/34f0e0/32.png) [@pantom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pantom)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokingest-version-of-beethovens-ninth/144227/25 "2003-03-02T06:31:48Z")
I’ve got the George Szell/Cleveland Orchestra version, the Karajan 1963 DG version, and the Solti version. Ratings: 1 - Szell: fast, brassy, jazzy. Highly recommended. 2 - Karajan '63: Excellent, the choral is outstanding, but the recording of the drums was botched. Also the brass seems to just plain disappear in a couple of places. Still very very good. I do have to get some of the other efforts he made, as I’m told they’re quite good. 3 - Solti: ponderous and weak throughout. The tempo is way too slow, the instrumentation unexciting, the choral weak and yucky. Very poor. Give it a pass. ---
**Author:** ![TJdude825](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TJdude825](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJdude825)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokingest-version-of-beethovens-ninth/144227/26 "2003-03-02T07:01:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tripler \* > \*\*I _THOUGHT_ it was the 9th!! I couldn’t remember if it was the 5th or the 9th. But then again, I get the numbers confused with Beethoven’s 9th. Or 5th. Or whatever. > **\** > Now my only remaining question is, _who changed my thread title?_ \*\* The ninth is Ode to Joy, and the fifth is kind of horror-movie-ish. The theme of the fifth is three notes on the same pitch, then a fourth, a third lower, then the entire sequence repeated again, but lower. In other words: [mad coding skills] [SUP]Ba ba ba[/SUP] **BUM** …Ba ba ba [SUB] **BUM** [/SUB] [/mad coding skills] Ukulele Ike changed the title. > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Ukulele Ike_ > **I’ll change the thread title so’s the lad has a chance of a decent answer.** ---
**Author:** ![Joe\_Cool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecb155/32.png) [@Joe\_Cool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Cool)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokingest-version-of-beethovens-ninth/144227/27 "2003-03-02T07:14:54Z")
My favorite is the version included as the third part of the whistling/yodeling/banjo/humming “Goofing Off Suite” on Raising Arizona. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokingest-version-of-beethovens-ninth/144227/28 "2003-03-02T14:56:12Z")
I have enjoyed the Ninth for many years, always on the lookout for a new recording. My favorite rendition would probably be offensive to many classical music ears, though. Walter Carlos (now Wendy :)) did a butt-kicking rendition of the second movement and the choral section of the fourth movement in 1971 on the then-cutting-edge Moog synthesizer for the soundtrack of **A Clockwork Orange**. I tried to link to the snippets of the audio, but it seems that Amazon has set up their page so that you have to go to the page directly and click on the link. So, if you want to hear a little piece of Wendy’s work, [click here](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000002KDU/qid=1046616175/sr=8-8/ref=sr_8_8/002-8496800-6907212?v=glance&s=music&n=507846) and scroll down to “Listen to Samples” and click on sample #4 and sample #5. As offensive as the film was to many, the soundtrack has a lot of good classical music in it. ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2003, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokingest-version-of-beethovens-ninth/144227/29 "2003-03-02T22:00:29Z")
Great site on the two (often confused) pieces _Ode to Joy_ and _Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring_. [Bach or Beethoven?](http://www.bachfaq.org/odetojoy.html) ---
**Author:** ![rmbnxs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b9e5f3/32.png) [@rmbnxs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rmbnxs)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2003, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokingest-version-of-beethovens-ninth/144227/30 "2003-03-03T00:42:57Z")
John Eliot Gardiner conducting the Orchestre RŽvolutionnaire et Romantique (1994 Deutsche Grammophon)Ñplaying original instrumentsÑputs just about every other recorded version of the last 30 years to shame. P. S. This isn’t Classical music. It’s from the Romantic period. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2003, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokingest-version-of-beethovens-ninth/144227/31 "2003-03-03T01:27:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by rmbnxs \* > \*\*P. S. This isn’t Classical music. It’s from the Romantic period. \*\* Now that my thread is ressurected, I have to ask: What’s the difference? Is one more kickass than the other? Tripler I’m glad I got some new responses. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![pantom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/34f0e0/32.png) [@pantom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pantom)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2003, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokingest-version-of-beethovens-ninth/144227/32 "2003-03-03T02:40:29Z")
Ah, depends on who you ask. Late Classical/Early Romantic is what I’ve heard. And I suppose Romantic can be more kickass, as it were. BTW, I went out & sampled that version **rmbnxs** mentioned a few weeks ago, and it’s a bit odd sounding. Tempo is very fast, for one thing. Beethoven was known to favor fast tempos, and these guys appear to want to reproduce the exact tempo he favored. I might get it one of these days. I mean, I already wasted 15 bucks and an hour and a half of my time on Solti. I don’t see how these guys could be any worse. ---
**Author:** ![pantom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/34f0e0/32.png) [@pantom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pantom)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2003, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokingest-version-of-beethovens-ninth/144227/33 "2003-03-03T02:48:04Z")
Ah, depends on who you ask. Late Classical/Early Romantic is what I’ve heard. And I suppose Romantic can be more kickass, as it were. BTW, I went out & sampled that version **rmbnxs** mentioned a few weeks ago, and it’s a bit odd sounding. Tempo is very fast, for one thing. Beethoven was known to favor fast tempos, and these guys appear to want to reproduce the exact tempo he favored. I might get it one of these days. I mean, I already wasted 15 bucks and an hour and a half of my time on Solti. I don’t see how these guys could be any worse. ---
**Author:** ![pantom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/34f0e0/32.png) [@pantom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pantom)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2003, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokingest-version-of-beethovens-ninth/144227/34 "2003-03-03T02:50:14Z")
Gotta love those hamsters. Sheesh. ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2003, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokingest-version-of-beethovens-ninth/144227/35 "2003-03-03T08:08:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by minor7flat5 \* > **My favorite rendition would probably be offensive to many classical music ears, though. Walter Carlos (now Wendy :)) did a butt-kicking rendition of the second movement and the choral section of the fourth movement in 1971 on the then-cutting-edge Moog synthesizer for the soundtrack of A Clockwork Orange.** Me too! I mean, I didn’t do a butt-kicking rendition of the second movement on a Moog, but I sure as hell do like Carlos’ version. It was going to be my vote when I first saw the thread title. And I’d forgotten the _Raising Arizona_ version, too! Good call. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smokingest-version-of-beethovens-ninth/144227.md?page=1)