Beethoven's Ninth via app

The archive of Deutsche Grammophon (DG), which was taken over by Universal a long time ago, is inexhaustible. And these vast quantities of recordings seem to have survived the latest media change. Because now that the LP has been sidelined, the CD has its best days behind it and the DVD/Blu-ray generated only marginal shares in the music sector anyway, the synthetic, all-encompassing virtual formats are coming. And as with the CD, it is once again Beethoven's Ninth Symphony that is set to conquer the world of classical music as the measure of all things via app ...

At least that's how it seems once you've downloaded the "toy". There are four great recordings to choose from as a sounding history of interpretation: Fricsay (1958), Karajan (1963), Bernstein (1979, also as a video) and Gardiner (1992). You can zap back and forth, let a graphically animated action model of the orchestra flash, read along with the score (either a copyist's copy from 1825, the Bärenreiter edition that runs through without a page turner or a score generated from it).

So far so good, and after a phase of trial and error and some detailed studies, the app ends up in the corner after all. Why? For one thing, it is limited to a single work and is self-contained, does not allow you to make your own entries - and ultimately does not go into any depth. This is also due to the "story" told by David Owen Norris, both in terms of the background (graphically presented only as a "lead desert") and the explanations accompanying each bar of music, which oscillate between analysis and hermeneutics: "A moment of softness again: a look back ... and then head first ... before either going back to the starting line ... or on to the next exciting event." There is only room for one more saying: The layman is amazed, the expert is surprised.

Beethoven's 9th Symphony, App for iPad / iPhone (German version) by Touch Press LLP, Full Experience iPad Fr. 14.00; iPhone Fr. 6.00

Demo video