To Love The World

Electric Beethoven used a little-known but profound section of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony as the basis for “To Love the World.” In the original composition, Beethoven used German poet Friedrich Schiller’s “Ode to Joy” as his muse inspired by its call for hope and brotherhood. While the excerpt takes a mere three minutes in its original form, the quartet divided it into five distinct sections and treated each one like its own statement outfitting them with their own mood, color, and groove. In present times of uncertainty and isolation, Reed Mathis felt Beethoven and Schiller’s sentiments come full circle as “To Love the World” can serve as the perfect incantation for modern-day improvisers to heal themselves from our wounded world.