Back in my WHRB days I did a couple of programs on classical music
oddities, and 25 years later I have yet to hear this particular one
explained.  The coda to the first movement of Beethoven's Ninth starts
with a new theme and builds up to a tremendous climax, at which point the
main theme comes crashing down and takes the movement to its close.  Back
in 1975, surveying the 15-20 recordings in the WHRB library, I found that
in approximately half of them there was a dramatic, orchestra-wide pause
just before the main theme came in; in the other half, there was no pause
at all, but a high note in the strings.  All the scores I could find had
the note in the strings, and it was no random note, but the natural
continuation of a line the strings had been following for many bars.
I assumed the pause was a performing tradition, because it does create
a rather dramatic effect, but I could find nothing written about it.  So
here are my questions.  Is there any authority for the pause, in manuscript
or printed editions? If so, what are the arguments for and against it? If
not, when and how did it come into being, and how has it been regarded by
performing musicians? Have performances and recordings of the last 25 years
tended to have the pause, or not? Thanks!

Peter Goldstein