One of the regular events of the Seattle Symphony season is a New Year’s Eve late night performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony followed by a post-concert party to ring in the new year. Last year I received an advertisement in the mail promoting that year’s concert, and one page of the brochure contained the message {Ring in the New Year} printed atop a photo of an impressive array of musical forces crammed onto the Benaroya Hall stage. But if you look closely at the instruments being played and the composition of the chorus, you quickly realize that they aren’t performing Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony does not call for eight vocal soloists, a harp, a piano, a mandolin, a celesta, or an organ. Nope, the photo is from a performance of Mahler’s Eighth Symphony.
But hey, it looks more impressive in the photo. Nobody will notice.
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