Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The dome of St Paul’s Cathedral became a symbol of wartime endurance during the London Blitz more than 80 years ago. It therefore became a worthy place for the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra and the Royal Opera House’s Songs for Ukraine Chorus to perform the Ukrainian-language version of Beethoven’s great Ninth Symphony under Keri-Lynn Wilson.The concert, part of the international Beethoven Ninth Freedom Tour by the orchestra, opened with Victoria Vita Polevá’s “Bucha. Lacrimosa”, a desolate response to Russia’s 2022 mass murder of Ukrainian civilians and prisoners of war in the city of Bucha. It grows from a hushed beginning in a very slow crescendo, then slowly diminishes, with some eerie Mahlerian percussion effects along the way. Yuri Shevchenko’s poignantly melodious paraphrase of the Ukrainian national anthem, for solo violin and strings, was given as an encore.In 1989, Leonard Bernstein caught the wave of history when, weeks after the fall of the Berlin Wall, he conducted the Ninth with one important change to the words in the final movement: where Beethoven set the poet Schiller’s word “Freude” (joy), Bernstein used the word “Freiheit” (freedom). In the Ukrainian version, that word becomes — thrillingly — “Slava” (glory). As “Slava Ukraini” — “Glory to Ukraine” — has become a familiar call of resistance since the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Vladimir Putin’s Russia, the bass-baritone Andrii Kymach’s first utterance of it became one of the hair-raising moments of this performance.The cathedral does not have the easiest acoustic for a symphony, but Beethoven’s orchestral writing maximised its complex echo effects. The symphony often became a dialogue between the distinct and the indistinct: Beethoven’s moments of silence were awash with the after-waves of previous notes, as were his many moments of polyphony and counterpoint.While this event was certainly not for sound purists, it was often phenomenal. When the lower strings, alone, introduced the “Ode to Joy” tune in the fourth movement, the effect was glorious: a single subterraneous thread of sound.Often the music and the echo met in ways that were beyond glorious. When Beethoven takes his choral sopranos quietly to the upper ether, he is already creating sounds that are mysteriously novel, but on this occasion they felt all the more universal. Since the 19th century, musicians and musicologists have been arguing about whether this symphony’s final movement is its glory or its flaw. (Objections range from its melodic coarseness and the awkwardness of Beethoven’s writing for high voices to its more monolithic communication than earlier in the symphony.) But here Beethoven’s largeness of spirit was overwhelming, taking us into new and larger worlds of sound and feeling.Tour continues to August 4, keri-lynnwilson.com
