02 MARCH 2020 (TORONTO, ON) -- When noise ceases to be simply noise, when a magical symbiosis occurs between melody, harmony and rhythm, the result is music. But what then happens if melody and harmony are silenced? What remains, and what, if anything, might emerge in their place? These questions are particularly timely in 2020, as we mark the 250th anniversary of the birth of Beethoven, famously deaf in later life. Deutsche Grammophon/Universal Music Canada, the country's leading music company, is playing a key role in the anniversary celebrations with a range of projects and initiatives aimed at showcasing the many different aspects of the composer’s legacy. As expressed by the label’s chosen slogan for its 2020 campaign – “Play on, play against all odds” – Beethoven’s example in overcoming adversity and continuing to write groundbreaking masterpieces for the rest of his life, remains inspirational today.

To coincide with the WHO’s World Hearing Day on 3 March 2020, the Yellow Label is proud to release an exciting new music video created in collaboration with German dancer, actress, dance teacher, choreographer and hip-hop champion Kassandra Wedel, who brings the spirit of Beethoven to life through her own very personal dance style. The video will be presented at a press conference in Berlin on 2 March, and will be available to stream free of charge from 3 March onwards.

The soundscape for Wedel’s expressive and dramatic choreography is provided by the opening movement of the Fifth Symphony, op.67, as recorded in 1977 by the Berliner Philharmoniker and Herbert von Karajan. The dancer uses dynamic, eloquent movements in her interpretation of the music’s power and intensity, revealing the vibrations that lie beneath its surface.

“Pain inspires me,” says Wedel. “I want to find out why it’s there and where it’s come from.” She also enjoys the challenge of exploring how far she can physically push herself. “What’s so exciting for me about this project is knowing that although Beethoven lost his hearing, he didn’t let that stop him writing music. I’ve had a very similar experience, so I can identify with him – and I just keep on dancing.”

Kassandra Wedel, 36, became deaf at the age of three when she was involved in a car crash. By using her inner hearing and sense of touch, however, she’s been able to continue dancing, and the enriched experience she has gained is something she’s keen to pass on to others. “I can bring a lot of poetry to my movements and my choreography, which is something not all hearing people can do,” she comments. “I’d rather people dealt with me as an equal rather than just seeing the disability. The truth is that I benefit from an added dimension that could also be beneficial to hearing dancers.”

Wedel begins her creative process by recording the underlying beat of a piece and letting the rhythm run through her body, then transforms these musical vibrations into movements. But her perception of music goes far deeper than this. “For me music doesn’t just happen through hearing or feeling the bass or vibration,” she explains. “It also springs up inside me. And I have a visual sense of music as well as this idea of a melody developing within me.”

We know that Beethoven had experienced some hearing loss by his late 20s, and that he was more or less completely deaf during the last years of his life. The gradual onset of deafness had a devastating impact on him, as is movingly documented in the so-called Heiligenstadt Testament of 1802. He found the social isolation it brought with it particularly difficult, something he wrote about to his friend Franz Gerhard Wegeler: “For almost two years now I have avoided all society, since it is impossible for me to tell people that I am deaf. If I were in any other profession it would not be so bad, but for a musician this is a terrible state of affairs.” And yet, despite losing not only his hearing but also, at times, the will to live, he ultimately found consolation and meaning in music. His creative powers undiminished, he went on to write such masterpieces as the Missa solemnis, op.123 and Ninth Symphony, op.125.

“I think that for Beethoven deafness represented a mental struggle, as well as all the practical issues it entailed,” says Kassandra Wedel. “But by facing up to that struggle he learned to hear from within.” She also makes the point that what makes his music particularly special is its enormous emotional range: “Love, anger, sadness, it has everything. I think that’s why so many people love it.”

On World Hearing Day this year, a global audience will have the opportunity to discover Wedel’s personal interpretation of the emotions expressed in the Fifth Symphony. She too has overcome adversity and is now using her own talents to share with others the universality of Beethoven’s genius and the profound humanity of his music.

Play and dance on, play and dance against all odds!

Official Beethoven Website BELOW