The Texarkana Symphony Orchestra continues its season with one of the great titans of classical music, Beethoven.

Beethoven’s 9th Symphony will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 18 at the Perot Theatre in the concert “Beethoven’s Ode to Freedom: In Honor of our American Veterans.” Conductor Marc-André Bougie says he’s taking a bit of a twist with that title.

“The anchor piece is Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, whose nickname is ‘Ode to Joy.’ But I’ve stolen the title from Leonard Bernstein when in 1989 he performed Beethoven’s 9th for the reunification of Germany and he changed the word ‘joy’ to ‘freedom’ ... this is where I’m taking my influence,” said Bougie.

The concert comes just a week after Veterans Day, which played a role in Bougie’s approach. To him, Beethoven in this work was dealing with the struggle of the people of his time who fought against authority.

“Back then the people were pitted against the kings, the queens and the hierarchy, and he himself as a human being he had to deal with many struggles,” said Bougie.

Despite physical abuse and being forced to perform as a youth, Beethoven came through wanting to be a musician, Bougie said. Then the composer became deaf and, basically, a recluse.

“And he would identify very easily with people’s struggles,” said Bougie, noting the “Ode to Joy” is in some way a salute to finding freedom and the happiness gained from acquiring it.

Other pieces on tap for the night include the “Star-Spangled Banner” and a tribute to American veterans with the hymns from divisions of the Armed Forces.

“And as we’re playing their hymns we’re going to ask the veterans to stand up and be recognized, and then we’ll follow with ‘Fanfare for the Common Man’ by Aaron Copland,” said Bougie.

Beethoven’s 9th will follow.

From a musical perspective, that symphony broke many milestones, s



aid Bougie. For one thing, it’s more than an hour long, he said, noting the four movements are linked together by reviving all of the melodies in the last movement.

“Basically he’s saying the whole symphony is an organism. It’s holistic ... he brings everything back in the end. Truly the most unique thing about it is he has a choir in the last movement,” said Bougie.

The Texarkana College Choir and the Texarkana Regional Chorale will join the TSO to sing the “Ode to Joy.”

In the 1820s, Bougie explained, a choir as part of the symphony itself had not been done. In that sense, the symphony was groundbreaking.

“He’s thinking, ‘Who’s telling me that a symphony needs to be only instruments? Why can’t it be voices as well?’ So that’s the new thinking of the composer then. The limits and the definitions will be whatever we make them,” said Bougie.

However, that didn’t become the norm.

“What became the norm is that a composer needs to think outside the box, and the forms that they were given are not the end but the beginning of their explorations,” Bougie said.

Vocalists featured for the night are Mary McMeans, Kristian Roberts, Kwan Kyun Joo and Lawrence Harris.

(Ticket prices: $36, $29, $22, $15, $5. Call 903-792-4992 or visit www.texarkanasymphony.org. Special discounts offered for veterans. A concert preview begins at 6:45 p.m.)