Transcripts For DW A World Without Beethoven 20240712

Ringback me from beethoven challenge his musicians technically like no other composers. Before im very happy that he did because he wrote fantastic solos for the horn a World Without beethoven i cant even begin to imagine lute week fun beethoven shaped entire musical genres pushing boundaries and even breaking them he was a pioneer and not just when it came to music. What would a World Without beethoven look like thats what i wanted to find out. Ok where time. In 816 beethoven revolutionized the tradition of leader songs with poetic lyrics. That was very beautiful by john its ok but lets do the Transition One more time because this was. Quite. Ok done here. This is a giant army. Base which transition. For some its a song cycle for others its the worlds 1st concept album beethovens and he found. 6 songs tell the story of unrequited love in 15 minutes. And the biggest invention is for sure the fella give to that he curated readers also does the 1st in Music History i would say. That he was composing a very long song but it was this kind of its Mission Speed and know for sure not interested there it kind of powerful nashville and but in fact you have you have different kind of songs different kind of effort episodes and he is really telling a long story this is really for show the biggest invention in the in the spectral day for this song repertoire. And he founded the leap that became the model for all great song cycles of classical and romantic music. France schubert adopted the close connection between piano and singing voice from beethoven. To stuff mahler expanded the idea and had the singer accompanied by an orchestra. Again. 150 years later the idea was picked up in a completely different place in the mid 1960 s. Pop music was revolutionized in the hills north of hollywood this is where the 1st concept albums were created shedding pumps teenybopper image and making it into a global 1000000. 00 business. Hollywoods Lights Camera Action home of the movie industry and also home of some of the most iconic pop songs ever produced. One driving force was brian wilson of the beach boys his goal was to write many symphonies for kids. For his concept album smile he heidi young lyricist the arranger and composer fan dyke parks. I read about your good vibrations session you suddenly said were going to put a cello in there you know put a challenge and now triplets fundamental and you know triplets how did you come up with that idea god gave me a plan and god gave me a plan that i would be a good arranger come up with a good idea for us something that had of a beat or 2 and a half minute time lapse a signature like the red ruby slippers something to distinguish the bank decks hand shake. Play it again say and brian wilson and fan dyke parks shared an ambitious vision rather than a simple collection of tracks smile with to be a song cycle telling the history of the United States carefully composed right down to the last detail smile wasnt released in its entirety until decades later but the idea was quickly copied by the worlds most successful band right next door in Laurel Canyon frank zappa created his concept album freak out. And in england the beatles were also inspired by smile they invented a fictitious music Group Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club band. The british band the who released a rock opera called tommy. And pink floyds concept album the dark side of the movie about a descent into madness became one of the most successful albums in Music History. And this is something youve used in your music ever since beethoven broach the very 1st song cycle ever and he found it can be and funnily enough and this is why i really want to talk to you about this this is what youve been doing this is what you did immediately after your your album the song cycle well ok this is interesting but that was imposed upon me by the medium the medium was the album of the album had a constituent lapse time this concept its fun album yeah that concept album did come out of Laurel Canyon to be sure all of those people. And to numerous to mention all those out i was there and thats the cabin which is burned to the ground other groups of Joni Mitchell and crosby stills and nash and all of the stuff everybody and rock and have the idea of the concept album that is since people were now listening to the album it was a Technological Advancement we were at the gilded age of analog recording and that album form provided that continuity. That people say sought and became a discipline and pro forma everything had to be just so for example new thought had to think about the 1st cut you had to think about the last card you had to think about the amount of time thinking about the amount of time it would take to turn it over again to the b. Side what the 1st cut would be how would it end and do you want to build or wherever after a 2 most recent album spangles its also a concept that you decided to put famous panamerican songs together with a reason and what has kept you on this track in my case is with people around gaby modano one of the people around found like parkes is grammy winner gaby marino a singer songwriter from guatemala she and found i wrote the concept album spangles the song cycle evokes the time when there was still a lively Cultural Exchange between latin america and the usa with neither hatred nor boredom. Theres a good. Bit. Of me. Believe political. And lets just look. At this idea of having a concept is it something youve consciously tried to do in your own stuff or has it did this come through the work with with and i part i have always thought that you know its important for me to think of of an album like from from beginning to end like ideally in an ideal scenario you want people to listen to it from beginning to end did you have the concept before the concept come while you were looking for the piece and i remember at 1st there was a lot of songs in spanish so movie Getting Started sending me that one which ended up on the record you start getting a martyr and then. I can remember. Quite well but i think he just he just sent me across the border line which is a song written by wright cooter and john hiatt in the 1980 s. So he sent me that song and i was like and Something Like something sparked in me and said ok. I get it we get it this is the concept were going to do a record that celebrates not only the cultures in latin america but also the u. S. And try to like unite the north and south and Central America and think of it because in one of my i would say this i think one of malawi teaches that the continent is a maybe you know one continent. So it was important for me to like just reflect that on this record where were celebrating the the wonderful music that comes from all these different parts of. America singer songwriting legend Jackson Brown joined the celebration. Is a good. Politics is and its another thing that really. Appeal to me and beethovens maverick status it encouraged to get encouragement. Her. Her. Jewelry. Beethoven song cycle and the family was a wonderful concept which is still being copied by composers and arrangers today. With this next completely different idea beethoven shaped an entire genre and chanted an audience of means. That it was. My it was. Was. My was. d in 1908 looked like fun beethoven began to create images in the minds of his listeners he gave his 6 symphony descriptive movement names such as awakening of cheerful feelings on arrival in the countryside to eat he began to describe images using the orchestra for the country outing he featured woodwind instruments who were usually more in the background of the music. They are at. Beethovens new ideas were a success the 1st movement conjures up associations with excursions and it delivers country life. But that it is is disturb thunder storm is the title of the 4th movement here brosnan percussion dominate the idea of Program Music music with a meaning or concept was born with the 6 it funny and quickly became an important jonna of romantic music. Man. In his some funny fantastic from 830 hector barely owes chose the same instrumentation for the same movement as beethoven had done 20 years earlier. In richard strausss monumental alpine symphony beethovens instrumentation is still a mistake and lead a model for strauss is 915. 00 Program Music. The idea of using sounds to create moods and associations with landscapes took over hollywood with the introduction of sound in films movie soundtracks became a laboratory orchestrated are at. The end composers who had fled here up such as Eric Wolfgang korngold book beethovens legacy to American Films creating a new lasting stand the. Music in the style of beethoven intensified the effects of a delay clan scapes and romantic love scenes was. Running away like that helen. It is right. There. It was wrong that the bearer of the albatross. And when the enemy approaches we can hear rolls of thunder korngold cannonballs can be heard from a fog man. Her. And even the greatest modern day film composer makes clever use of beethoven formulas. In the star wars films the forces of good and body by princes lair and look skywalker are played by woodwind instruments. Evil with its imperial march is dominated by bras instruments coincidence. We are at one of the greatest Music Festivals in the world the tanglewood Music Festival in lenox massachusetts and one of their yearly highlights is film light where of course they play the music of the Legendary John williams. The composer of jaws Indiana Jones Jurassic Park harry potter star wars and many many others has influenced the film Music Industry of the last decades more than anyone else and won many oscars and grammys along the way. The typical John Williams sound touches millions of fans around the world and me especially as a horn player. As a moviegoer i could not imagine a World Without John Williams and this is what were talking about today a World Without without beethoven its also impossible to imagine this so beethoven was the 1st composer to actually write program attic music in the 6 that for me he gave each each movement a title so that the listeners would know exactly what they were listening for yes a 6 am today is maybe in the normally to him that he thought he might have been making entertainment you said in an interview that you felt that beethoven was one of the greatest organizers of sound question your idea of organizing sound with instruments in this case into shapes. And eventually into things that will exchange emotions is hard to imagine like life without beethoven i had a conversation about the submitting with you was an elderly doctor friend of mine very for them and i said well what is your answer to what would the world be like without beethoven and he said very quickly to me what would life be like if wed never seen a rainbow. But how do you decide which instrument is going to be the one to portray principly which instrument it could be the one to make to make a scare and is that something to have a a program youve worked out over the years theres a tradition in theater and film if you have a villain you probably have in the old days you would have a diminished 7th chord played from the wandle somewhere or there is an expectation culturally of certain kind of things where the horn is. Established as the hero we like that. These connections. Apply their historical their culture all the forms of structure within which you have some freedom you know the 2nd symphony in the 3rd movement. And then the trumpets among. Many to this. Well. And then it goes into the intervening i see a shark i see this shark i see a shark. A lot and when i went inside her head terrifying shark and weve always wondered if that was the precursor to the jaws i think so i think i think fate of her had been swimming. The drama in beethovens music has been an endless source of inspiration for film scores but his influence is also seen in the success of a somewhat on remarkable invention. For some its an instrument of torture for others an indispensable companion for rehearsing and performing the metronome providing the correct tempo at all times. In 1819 beethoven caused another sensation in the music world he wrote an article praising the previously unknown invention by his friend johann nipple milkmaids of the metronome. And since then life in music without a metronome has become hard to imagine. Few feet. From. Me through norm is included metronome is basically the click track to all that is embedded in the Recording Software nama software on your boat is. As there is a musical grid so to speak i know i need the conscious there are certain time signatures a certain tempo. To talk to at least of this temple well and if i could start a record run id hear this for example good if somebody does hear her on a book and beautiful. I flick through a commom apart from the fact that it delivers a very stable tempo just hit with a click track also works as a synchronous reference you and i its soon claim that a front ends. Pop and the many pop and rock Music Productions are done as multitrack recording all someone over each instrument in a song is recorded one at a time or space you can get the distance with for example drums are often recorded 1st and then a week later a guitarist plays along and then in another studio a singer sings his lines the separate tracks are held together by this click reference. Beethoven published metronome markings for his symphonies in a light sic news journal he left nothing to chance. Before that composers had used italian tempo markings from largo slow to presto fast but they were approximate markings thanks to metro markings every conductor knows the precise tempo beethoven wanted for his symphonies. Parvo why do you think it was so important to beethoven to promote this new idea the metronome is like evolution youre like a fish coming out of the water and realizing we need to feed you know and then they grow feet and then they start walking and so. I think that probably that has something to do with it because all of a sudden the control goes from the hand of a composer into the hand of a stranger who has nothing to do with the creation of the piece and this whole recreated process the interpretive process was more. Powerful yeah its one of the worlds top conductors and he is a great fan of beethovens metro markings. He published the metronome markings probably because he wanted to make sure that people are in the right area of tempi and of course. So much controversy. Is to this day there are these these national markings and and the main problem really is that they are very fast a lot of the run much faster than the traditional baton interpretation that you know now are comfortable. And in a way i think that thats exactly why he published them because because he sort of could foresee that things would get slower more romantic you know there is a there is a kind of a a slowing down the grandness the wagner effect if you will. The metronome which beethoven so appreciated makes it possible to set the same tempo any time and anywhere since 8095. 00 a German Company has been producing meltzers metronomes and selling them all over the world they are based in the well hidden it is a town of is me. In calgary in south germany there is the most famous metronome manufacturer in the whole world victor metronomes i never thought i could get so excited about metronomes but look at this one. Metronomes are high tech. Before a model is sold it has to pass and endure and stress test. Battles i dont. Think you can vote that is metronome was sick how can a metronome be thick concrete. Slab almost but you have to bear in mind the state of technology in those days where does the metronome is a highly precise mechanical device risky that the slightest deviation by in term of dimensions were talking about a weight discrepancy of one or 2 grams that would cause a different matter and i speak. For. We conveniently as post facto so to speak we can say well you know he was deaf and his national was broken and there is even some kind of a story somewhere in the letter where it says that you better know rose was not functioning correctly i mean i think its all nonsense i mean thats what it was deaf he wasnt stupid. Beethovens insistent on exact tempos set standards with his special feeling for rhythm he inspired a completely different genre long after his time. Later in his life beethoven moved further and further away from what his listeners. I expected to hear some critics even considered him crazy syncopations piano cascades what sounds like a jazz piece from an american bar around 1920 is actually beethovens last piano sonata opus 111 composed almost 100 years earlier. It seems like he shortens the notes as he goes along to create is the sort of jazzy effect yeah i think he programs in this this natural momentum so you each variation. Against more notes probate whereas the the meter itself doesnt change. With the board had he tried Everything Else beethoven wrote a set of variations in this piano sonata he varied not only the melody and the harmonies as others had done before him he varied the rhythm. This piece remains a challenge for every pianist its really unique because beethoven what the way he writes it with these with these following passages they they really swings naturally and he creates this one i mean he really writes it in there and to go along with it you have some some blues know that some some blues tones and its really brilliant what he does. In 822 you can only imagine how confused the music critics were. Would it sound like if you played it more and more classical more more like its exactly written is it even possible that the speed of. It becomes an engineer and does it takes the fun out of it. For a long time this is a nod to was considered im playable because of its tempo about a century later musicians on a different continent discovered how much fun playing syncopation at a high speed could be just. Wrong. Just Little Things about Movie Company to have been here at the absolute temple of jazz the house of jazz in new york city and who better to speak to about this but Wynton Marsalis himself. Wynton marsalis is one of the most famous trumpet players in the world hes a 19 grammys and he is the artistic director of the house of jazz at lincoln center. Something people have credited beethoven with theres this panel sonata his very last found its not a 100 number 211 and people say it was stravinsky that came up with the quote it was a pretty echo of boogie woogie because of the snappy bass lines and and the syncopation in there what would you say as a master of jazz i think that is just a dot is 16. The consciousness of it is the ground rhythm that does not change so even pass a car you know is kind of forms where the bass repeats and the challenge of playing is maintained to be Dooby Dooby Dooby Dooby Dooby Doo long span. The challenge of stride in jazz styles is can you keep that left hand in strict march time and play the figures on the top. So you have a dotted 16th no rhythm is really people are hearing that today and saying oh that must that what it what it was but it its a big credit to beethoven that something he did then people are still analyzing you know been to india so much more than that it does a reduction of you know. I feel a just beethovens modernity like to the person in the 20th century who resembles beethoven as louis on show who is on strong actually gave you a sense of what it meant to be modern it would have meant to be free beethoven in terms of him as a in relation to jazz just his freedom him in improvisation course we dont recall as him but every account of his playing is what he could do was go from really thunderous bombastic virtuosic playing to the most tender beautiful. Melodic and also how you traverse the cannabis written down when he just stood just to go on with it and he does go with me the piano player you dont want to have to write it down you find rhythm all over beethovens music and you think of the beatles music he understands the 3 in the environment of 2 which is which comes from African Music which he probably got it from through through middle eastern music what they would call turkish music or so is when you when youre in a 2 rhythm dont dont dont dont dont you put 3 on top of mt digging tick tick tick tick tick ding ding ding ding ding if you listen to a 3rd symphony he does this sort of syncopated awful has. Been done of as. Far as i have notes grouped into bomb. So youre in 3 but hes grouping on the notes into. This is this is a kind of ultra syncopation what i love about it is that hes using it as a sick patient for that the same reason we use syncopation is im giving you a time and your body has the expectations of his time and non plan which would to time so in in this String Quartet that i love f. Major over 135. 00 is a movement in 3 its fair for vijay to put it in the did you put it to bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb. Beethovens rhythms are also a challenge for the army to quartet from germany. Did it do to tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick rocksteady talk to me just. To get. To. He didnt like that. And i love that. Beethoven also played around with the rhythm in his last String Quartets in the 2nd movement he hides the 1st speech of the bar which would usually be the most important beat in european music. So whats the difficulty of playing this vivace for you is it playing against each other you start but not on the one youre on the 3 whats so hard about that. Well basically its like playing contemporary music everyone has got his pattern and has to stick to it and yet as a group we still have to feel a common pulse otherwise wed lose ourselves because it actually goes against our natural need for structure to stick to a pattern which is actually against the beat and the king intact then why did you take this apart slowly and play it for me so that i can see where the 3 years and where the one is. I. Hear you found each other on the one finally can you play it again fast the way it should be. So hes as like a Football Player juke you or does some kind of fake Soccer Player will do theyll be playing make you think theyre going this way and they do it hes doing it with the rhythm. Its incredible how much beethoven has shaped our music world whether in jazz film scores or rock music his innovations and ideas are everywhere. A World Without beethoven. Unimaginable. A World Without beethoven is actually know what well everyone weve spoken to no one can imagine it i dont know i mean theres a lot in the world always think about any person whatever they did you could take it out the world of the world 5 i mean you can do a lot of people never heard of the 2 you know and it in their lives are not bad. Watch closely. Anyone searching for gold to acquire 6 feet and its like a piece right there see that stuff in there during the era evolving and tradition 2 calls passing. Having to live what they find enough and why its a great way to conquer existential fiennes ive already forgotten my problem 6 seconds youre. 90 minutes d. W. Soon the early. Hours of the morning. Channel. Because your war zone. In those slowly slowly. Leaves the mills. Slope views known lola 4 of which. Comes under your world piercing the for the. Oh chancellor. Merkel story. Curtis. This is d. W. News live from berlin and a leading prodemocracy figure challenged in hong kong activist joshua was taken into custody on suspicion of joining an Unauthorized Assembly last year hes been released on bail also coming out 2 Police Officers are shot dead and wounded as Racial Justice protests erupt across the United States