# Favorite Movement of Beethoven’s 9th



## Pyotr (Feb 26, 2013)

With Beethoven being the Microsoft of the classical music industry, I tried very hard not to like this music- I couldn’t do it. When I listen to the first movement, I hope it never ends, even though I know better is coming. The second movement is the only classical music that makes me feel like wanting to get up and dance. The percussions during this movement chime in at exactly the right moment, with just the right frequency and pitch. It’s perfection never ceases to amaze me. But my favorite movement is the third. It’s the calm after the storm. Like waking up to the most beautiful morning– all is right with the world. Maybe the first two movements were just a dream? What can be said about the last movement, Ode to Joy, that hasn’t been already. 
Your magic brings together
what fashion has sternly divided.
All men shall become brothers,
wherever your gentle wings hover.
Are you kidding me? I’m sure glad that I wasn’t a contemporary of Beethoven’s and had to follow that. 

So which is your favorite movement?


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

The last one. Preferably without the first three attached to it.


----------



## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Really, I have to choose? 

I've known the second movement longer. It was the theme to the Huntley-Brinkley Report. 
Beyond that, what attracts me is, it's a celebration of rhythm. 
I recall a story that in Glinka in Russia and Rossini in France both wept when they heard it because they couldn't have done anything like that. It's a nice story, if it's true.


----------



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

I'm not gonna do this. Attack of conscience.


----------



## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

This will be interesting. When we polled favorite movement of Beethoven's Ninth excluding the 4th, the second movement had a slight edge over the first, but there were not many respondents.


----------



## Tristan (Jan 5, 2013)

The 4th. There was never anything like it before it. It's monumental for a reason. Doesn't mean I dislike the other three by any means, but the 4th movement is one of my favorite symphony movements in general.


----------



## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

KenOC said:


> I'm not gonna do this. Attack of conscience.


I'm not either. It's one work.


----------



## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

For me the last shalt be first and the first shalt be last.


----------



## scratchgolf (Nov 15, 2013)

I've stated before that the 2nd Movement is my favorite symphonic movement ever, with the 1st Movement of Schubert's 9th being a close 2nd. I suppose that means I'll go with the 2nd here.


----------



## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

The first movement of Beethoven's Ninth is my favorite.

It could have stood alone-say as "Wellington's Final Victory".


----------



## jflatter (Mar 31, 2010)

I love the 3rd movement. One of my favourite movements in all symphonic music.


----------



## licorice stick (Nov 24, 2014)

Tie between the first, second, and third for me, although objectively speaking, the last movement is just as great.


----------



## DiesIraeCX (Jul 21, 2014)

The 1st movement still remains my favorite movement (of any symphony). After its explosive entrance, the main theme seems like it's always bubbling under the surface, ready to explode again, only to fade away, then reemerge again. Of course, it's the movement's theme and one would expect for it to reappear. However, it's as if the main theme is being continually impeded with false recapitulations, by the end of the movement, its pent up energy is finally released in a powerful coda that still awes me. Another movement that reminds me of this is the 1st Mvt of Bruckner's 9th.

Maybe Susan McClary was right! NOT!  Well, I'm actually with her up until the word, "explodes". Everything after is just utter nonsense.

"The point of recapitulation in the first movement of the Ninth is one of the most horrifying moments in music, as the carefully prepared cadence is frustrated, damming up energy which finally explodes in the throttling murderous rage of a rapist incapable of attaining release."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_McClary#The_Beethoven_and_rape_controversy


----------



## Guest (Dec 16, 2014)

No favourite. I listen to it all, or not at all.


----------



## Lord Lance (Nov 4, 2013)

The third movement isn't a big favorite of mine. More like a deliberate, forced relief. And the Fourth would've won except for the vocals. So, the first movement! Probably my favorite movement of _all_ movements I've heard.


----------



## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

The third movement, but not by a wide margin over the first two. I much prefer his earlier works (for the symphonies, 6 and 5).


----------



## csacks (Dec 5, 2013)

I was in doubt in between the first and the fourth, but the fourth is so powerful and so strong that it can´t be compared to anything else. It is not that shocking because we are all used to it, but is an explosion of energy, from the very beginning. To me, the highest point in music´s development.


----------



## afterpostjack (May 2, 2010)

The third movement is my favorite movement and it is one of the best adagios in the repertoire. Then comes the first movement. I could do without the choral finale, to best honest (although the orchestral introduction is very good). It leaves me unaffected, emotionally. It strikes me as fairly superficial, although it seems like heresy to think so. On the whole, I don't find the 9th as emotionally intense as, say, the 7th - which is my favorite Beethoven symphony by some distance.


----------



## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

When it's Karajan or Wand at the helm, the great third movement adagio.

When it's Norrington or Chailly, NOT!!!


----------

