Cleveland Orchestra bassoonists perform in the orchestra’s virtual “Beethoven 9 Project.”
“There’s always joy to be found, even during trying times in a challenged city. That’s the message of the ‘Beethoven 9 Project,’ the Cleveland Orchestra’s latest pandemic release,” writes Zachary Lewis in Thursday’s (9/24) Plain Dealer (Cleveland). “A video featuring the ‘Ode to Joy’ music from Beethoven’s ‘Symphony No. 9,’ the project is a compilation of live performances by members of the Cleveland Orchestra and Cleveland Orchestra Chorus members in 16 prominent spots around Northeast Ohio. The video, released Thursday on the Cleveland Orchestra’s social media channels, weaves together all the performances…. The audio baseline for the video is a 2018 performance at Severance Hall conducted by music director Franz Welser-Möst…. The ‘Beethoven 9 Project’ is not the first video of its kind to stem from the Cleveland Orchestra during the coronavirus pandemic. A notable predecessor, and the inspiration for the project, is the ‘Cleveland Bachs’ series, organized by cellist David Alan Harrell. Several other musicians also have released online recordings of themselves and their colleagues, and the orchestra as a whole continues to offer podcasts, archival recordings, radio broadcasts, and educational materials. A virtual fall season is slated to begin in October.”
