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ASO Masterworks Series

Dueling Ninths

ASO Masterworks Series: Dueling Ninths Register to receive a free voucher redeemable for two tickets to either of the weekend's Masterworks performances.

Each registrant will receive one voucher redeemable for two tickets to any of the weekend's performances. Vouchers should be picked up in the administration office of O'Neal Library prior to Wednesday, October 22nd. If tickets are not retrieved before 6 pm on Wednesday, October 22nd, they will default to the next person on the waiting list.
If you have questions, contact Matt Layne at 205-445-1141 or mlayne@oneallibrary.org

Join the Alabama Symphony Orchestra for Dueling Ninths: 
SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 9, E-flat Major
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9 “Choral”

Shostakovich was likely wrestling with this very quandary as he approached his own Ninth Symphony. Living in the 20th century, he was undoubtedly aware of the great Ninths that preceded him, and he was a huge lover of Beethoven and Mahler.

And then there was Stalin. Shostakovich spent most of his creative life trying to balance his artistic voice with the often-difficult task of staying alive through the Great Purge. Survival meant writing the kind of music that Stalin wanted to hear. But in the words of the great American conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein, Shostakovich was “a great nose thumber.” He always found a way to slip an act of defiance into the subtext of his music.

After you experience Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 9, E-flat Major, enter Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 “Choral.”

As the musicologist Maynard Solomon wrote, “What Beethoven created was not just music—it was myth, it was cosmos, it was revolution.”

So, what is the titanic final symphony from a giant of a composer about? It must be something big… mustn’t it? The answer is yes—and no. Beethoven indeed crafts a narrative of epic scope, exploring the existential forces that define the human experience—a musical odyssey touching nearly every emotional realm. A hero’s journey for the entire human race. What could be bigger than that?

But the salvation he offers in the conclusion of the symphony—the part everyone knows—is startlingly simple, even small: Joy. Joy, unity, and brotherhood for all mankind.

There is so much more to this concert than on can imagine!