JOURNEYS WITH BEETHOVEN: Following the Ninth, and Beyond [NOOK Book]

In “Journeys With Beethoven,” Kerry Candaele and Greg Mitchell offer a unique and very topical exploration of the composer’s musical, cultural and political influence, around the world and in America, today. It’s a new kind of adventure story and, finally, a Beethoven for our time.

Along the way, they capture, among other things, the mystery and meaning of the Ninth Symphony and its “Ode to Joy”—and its capacity to change lives, even countries.

The two longtime rock 'n rollers--Kerry Candaele is writer, musician and filmmaker, Mitchell a journalist and author of twelve previous books--discovered a shared passion for Beethoven later in life, and in this book they probe this deep obsession. You might call it, "Roll Over, Chuck Berry."

Candaele illuminates four segments in his upcoming “Following the Ninth” documentary set in Chile, China, Japan and London (with Billy Bragg), while Mitchell travels to famous U.S. venues and interviews a leading pianist, Jeremy Denk, and trombonist Joseph Alessi, among others.

Five years ago, Candaele set out on a world journey to film the global impact—in freedom struggles, and in inspiring or sustaining people in their daily lives—of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. He ended up traveling to twelve countries and four continents.

In China he discovered why student leader, Feng Congde, at the Tiananmen uprising in the spring of 1989, played the Ninth Symphony over a loudspeaker as the troops moved in to crush their movement for democracy. In Chile, women under the Pinochet dictatorship sang the Ninth's "Ode To Joy" in front of torture prisons to offer hope to those inside. In Japan, the Ninth is performed hundreds of times each December, often with 5000 or 10,000 singers in the chorus, intent on transmitting a message of solidarity between all people.

And in England, the folk/punk singer, Billy Bragg, talked about writing a new libretto for the Ninth in English. Candaele was there when his version was performed before the Queen by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. As “Journeys With Beethoven” reveals, the Ninth turns worlds inside out and upside down. Or as George Mathew, one of the subjects of the film, put it, "The Ninth gets into your bloodstream and changes who you are."

In Part II of the book, Greg Mitchell, who as senior editor at the legendary Crawdaddy magazine helped create the first major article about Bruce Springsteen, describes his own journey to Beethoven and his obsessive pursuit of all things Ludwig during the past several years via CDs, films, books, lectures, and what he calls the “new LvB delivery systems”: music downloads, YouTube videos, blogs, Web forums, Twitter feeds.

He also takes us to some of the dozens of recent concerts he’s attended throughout the northeast United States and in London. He poses questions to experts such as Beethoven biographer Edmund Morris and author Tim Page, besides his very revealing interviews with Denk and Alessi. We learn how Beethoven changed the lives of famous writers and musicians, and Mitchell even provides a guide to Beethoven films, from the silent era to “A Clockwork Orange” and “Immortal Beloved."