A couple of years ago, Norwegian conceptual artist Leif Inge created “9 Beet Stretch,” which is Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony digitally elongated to last 24 hours. I can’t say I’ve listened to it all (or that I’d ever really want to, even in a few sittings), but I got around to hearing the first few minutes of the fourth movement. It’s kind of cool: ambient, trance-like. What is normally a jaunty passage—each minute is stretched out to about 20 minutes—becomes something eerie and unrecognizable. The composition and orchestration break down and dissolve, just as Inge intends. The piece, which will be played in full in a couple of U.S. cities this month, is available online in Real format, all 24 hours, but thankfully broken into manageable sections.
Related: interview on All Things Considered (“Closer to Eternity: Stretching Beethoven’s 9th,” Nov. 26, 2002).
Thanks for the 9th!
Thanks for this link… You’ve prompted a rather long blog entry/article about my obsession with music and its relation to time. Coming soon. Look for it in a blog near you (namely mine).