How fast should Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony be performed?
By RONALD BLUM
Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — Benjamin Zander is convinced Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony should sound far different than most people are accustomed to hearing it, and the soon-to-be 84-year-old conductor will race through in about an hour during performances in Boston and New York this week. The composer’s most famous work premiered on May 7, 1824, in Vienna, Austria. There’s disagreement over what tempi the four-movement masterpiece should be performed. Zander is a two-time Grammy Award nominee. He will lead the Boston Philharmonic in performances on Friday night at Boston’s Symphony Hall and on Sunday afternoon at New York’s Carnegie Hall.
