Tessa Uys-Beethoven Symphonies, Vol. 6 (2025) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

Beethoven first conceived the idea of setting Schiller’s Ode to Joy to music when he was in his twenties; an early iteration of the theme in the song, Returned Love, comes from before 1795. His Choral Fantasy for piano, vocal soloists, mixed chorus, and orchestra followed in 1808, when he was thirty-eight. By the time he conducted his Choral Symphony No. 9 in D minor in Vienna on May 7, 1824, aged fifty-four, Beethoven was completely deaf. One of the iconic images in music history is that of the soprano gently turning him around, so he could see the rapturous response from the audience that he was unable to hear. The work had broken all barriers in terms of conception, duration, compositional power, and the incorporation of voices in the finale.

The impact of the Choral Symphony was instantaneous and lasting. It was printed by Schott and Company within 18 months, and there were immediate demands for keyboard transcriptions. Given the forces that Beethoven employed in his 9th Symphony, transcribing the work for piano is challenging to say the least. The German pianist and composer, Xaver Scharwenka, was a student of Theodor Kullak, who had studied with Beethoven’s pupil, Carl Czerny, thus providing Scharwenka with a singular musical line leading back to Beethoven. His duet transcriptions of all nine Beethoven Symphonies, published in 1905, still remain a touchstone for musical understanding of the cycle.

TRACKLIST

1. Tessa Uys - Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 "Choral" (Arr. for Piano 4 Hands by Xaver Scharwenka): I. Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso
2. Tessa Uys - Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 "Choral" (Arr. for Piano 4 Hands by Xaver Scharwenka): II. Molto vivace
3. Tessa Uys - Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 "Choral" (Arr. for Piano 4 Hands by Xaver Scharwenka): III. Adagio molto e cantabile
4. Tessa Uys - Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 "Choral" (Arr. for Piano 4 Hands by Xaver Scharwenka): IVa. Presto - Allegro assai
5. Tessa Uys - Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 "Choral" (Arr. for Piano 4 Hands by Xaver Scharwenka): IVb. Presto "O Freunde, nicht diese Töne"



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