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The global COVID-19 pandemic has affected musicians around the world as concert venues remain closed and severe restrictions are in place. Many of us face new challenges and hardship while we try to keep working and continue our passion in music, and thousands of us artists from all sectors of the performing arts are fearful for our future.
While some performing groups are already back on stage, many face the complex challenge of performing in a socially-distanced set-up and venue, and others are not able to resume due to the restrictions in place. Several orchestras around the world have also gone digital, either broadcasting live or publishing concerts from their archive. As a young conductor, I record some of my performances when possible to use in auditions and competition applications, and decided to publish a recording of Beethoven’s 7th Symphony from my personal archive as part of the Beethoven250 celebrations around the world.
Recorded live at the North Ossetian Philharmonic with the North Ossetian-Alania Symphony Orchestra (now known as the Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre North Ossetia-Alania), this particular recording is special to me. I have lost someone extremely close to me a couple of days before I performed it in Vladikavkaz, and being a tribute, I have decided to adopt a more unorthodox tempo in order to achieve the emotional intensity at the time. It was done entirely in a single take on an iPhone X, recorded quite far back in the concert hall, and there were no fancy equipment, re-recording, nor patching of recording errors. It might probably the first classical orchestral recording release to be done entirely on an iPhone and while it might not be professionally recorded, I hope listeners would embrace the wabi-sabi aesthetics and the imperfections in this mix.
Music is the spiritual sustenance we all need.
Chiya Amos
Beethoven Symphony No. 7
Live from the North Ossetian Philharmonic
Chiya Amos / North Ossetia-Alania Symphony Orchestra
I. Poco sostenuto – Vivace
II. Allegretto
III. Presto – Assai meno presto
IV. Allegro con brio
Release Date: 17 December 2020
Available on Bandcamp and Youtube
Recorded by Chiya Amos at the North Ossetian Philharmonic (iPhone X)
Graphic design and photography by Karina Kuzmicheva
Mixed and Mastered by Chiya Amos