Sir Henry Wood and his Symphony Orchestra
Ethel Osborne (Soprano)
Harry Brindle (Bass) Isolde Menges (Violin)
Relayed from the Queen's Hall, London
Part I
The Overture begins with a slow Introduction, in which Beethoven repeats an effect he had made in his First Symphony a year before - choosing a discord, not belonging to the key of the Movement, as the very first chord of the piece.
Immediately after the loud opening bars we hear a grave, tender melody, which does not continue long, for the first, main tune of the Overture proper breaks in impetuously. The second main tune soon follows, and there is a romantic episode soon afterwards...
The Composer develops and recapitulates this material, and ends the work with a lively Coda.
THE five Drum notes which open the First Movement form a motif of which, as the music unfolds itself, considerable use is made. The Woodwind has both first and second main tunes; while the second is being given out (it begins with a lofty, rising phrase) the Strings reiterate the opening Drum rhythm. Before the Soloist enters and the game is fully afoot, yet a third Tune, in Strings and Woodwind, is heard-a loud one, rising boldly up the scale.
The Second Movement is a lovely example of Variation form, in which a tender, noble melody is heard in different forms, as if the Solo Violin were meditating upon and lovingly caressing it. This Movement goes directly, without a break, into the Finale, a gay Rondo.
This, one of the most exhilarating of all the nine Symphonies, is in four Movements.
First Movement. A slow Introduction procedes the lively Movement, whose first main tune is heard on Strings and answered by Woodwind.
The second main tune is a rustic little phrase starting in Bassoon, then in Oboe, then, high up in the Flute, which prolongs the tune.
This leads into other tunes - first a boisterous one, then a quiet conversational one in Wood-wind.
Second Movement. This is in strict 'Sonata' form. It opens with a sustained, song-like first main tune in Strings.
Third Movement. A gay Minuet (with the usual 'Trio' as contrast in the middle) needs no special description.
Fourth Movement. A glorious bit of the happiest Beethoven, this, woven out of the usual two main tunes (the first going off at once, and second entering, after an orchestral climax and a dying down of the excitement, quietly and expressively.)