Symphonic Orchestra Play Beethoven From Isolation

This is the moment a symphonic orchestra all record themselves playing from their homes in coronavirus lockdown to perform a Beethoven masterpiece together.

The Symphonic Orchestra of Castille and Leon in central Spain released the edited clip of the musicians performing Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No.9 which uses the text from Friedrich Schiller’s ‘Ode to Joy’.

Alejandro Climent, a bassoonist of the orchestra since 2014, guided the performance of 42 musicians, saying: “We musicians cannot stay at home without playing. Then I came up with the idea of trying to coordinate a recording, everyone with the tools they had at home, with a mobile phone, a recorder or a computer.

“We downloaded the sheet music that I edited and with a recording from the Orchestra of Castile and Leon I introduced a clapperboard to synchronise it.”

Production technician Eduardo Garcia helped edit the performance and said: “The message is cheering up a lot of people and we are paying tribute to all those who cannot go to the concerts and are isolated at home. And of course for everybody fighting against the virus.”

Jordi Gimeno Marine, the Technical Director of the symphonic orchestra told Newsflash that the process of the organisation, recording and editing all the parts from the musicians took around four or five days, with the idea first coming up in the first days of Spain’s quarantine.

He said “all the musicians had a clapperboard and listened to the music in their headphones, they played the music”, explaining the clapperboard was needed to know exactly how to join all the parts together.

He added: “It is not perfect, but it is a small contribution from our part. Music helps in any circumstance, and in this one too”.