Ode To Joy review: Hugely enjoyable sign-language performance of Beethoven's banger
Ode To Joy at Crawford Art Gallery for Cork Midsummer Festival. Picture: Jed Niezgoda
★★★★☆
In the parlance of today’s youth, Beethoven’s Ode to Joy is an absolute banger. The choral finale of the composer’s Ninth Symphony, it is a transcendent masterpiece, and an achievement made even more extraordinary by the fact that it was written when the composer had gone completely deaf.
A fitting choice, then for an Irish Sign Language interpretation, overseen by the multi-talented artist Amanda Coogan, herself a child of deaf parents, and performed by members of the Cork Deaf Community Choir alongside Lianne Quigley and Alvean Jones of the Dublin Theatre of the Deaf. The recording used for this performance is that of a recent concert by the National Symphony Orchestra to celebrate 50 Years of Ireland’s membership of the EU, another serendipitous choice, given the adoption of Ode to Joy as an anthem for Europe.
The Crawford Art Gallery lecture theatre plays host to the performance; it is wonderful to see an institution that is such a vital part of the cultural fabric of the city serving as a location for several productions this year ahead of its planned redevelopment. Speaking of which, as we enter the lecture theatre, there is much fascination with the patchwork canopy of old shirts and fabric that hangs overhead, fashioned by Coogan herself and a symbolic representation of one of the lines in the Ode to Joy: ‘…above the starry canopy, there must dwell a loving Father’.
The audience is jolted to attention as the music suddenly roars from the speakers and Coogan, at the top of the theatre, begins to interpret the instrumental section in graceful and flowing movements. It’s when the choral section starts, however, that it all comes to life, the ISL performers rising from their places among the audience, following Coogan’s lead. The positioning gives an immersive quality but most of the performers are behind the audience, meaning they have to crane their necks to catch the action.
As the audience and performers bathe in the heavy bass, the musical momentum builds to spine-tingling effect, and there is an explosion of movement, Coogan leading the charge with glorious energy, head-banging with serious intent.
The performance ends quite abruptly, but the appreciation from the audience is real, as they wave their hands, in the universal gesture for applause used in the deaf community. Ode to Joy is so familiar that we take its majesty for granted, so to experience it from a fresh perspective in this rousing performance is a real treat.
