Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 National Symphony Orchestra, Kennedy Center & Gianandrea Noseda

• Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827): Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 "Choral":
• 1 Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 "Choral": I. Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso 14:58
• 2 Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 "Choral": II. Molto vivace - Presto 13:17
• 3 Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 "Choral": III. Adagio molto e cantabile - Andante moderato 13:15
• 4 Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 "Choral": IV. Finale. Presto - Allegro assai - "O Freunde, nicht diese Töne!" (Ode to Joy) 22:42
• Total Runtime 01:04:12

Info for Beethoven: Symphony No. 9

With the Ninth, Beethoven created more than a symphony. Almost as soon as it was written, the Ninth became an icon of Western culture. Its message affirms the triumph of joy over adversity like no other piece of music has ever done. And its revolutionary form, its unprecedented size and complexity and, above all, the introduction of the human voice in the last movement, changed the history of music forever. The work’s import and the means by which it is expressed are both unique: each explains and justifies the other.

Everything in Beethoven’s career seems to have prepared the way for this exceptional composition. It is the culmination of the so- called “heroic style,” known from Symphonies Nos. 3 and 5, among others. But it is also the endpoint of a series of choral works with all-embracing, cathartic, and solemn endings. The series began in 1790 with two cantatas on the death of Emperor Joseph II and the inauguration of Leopold II, respectively; the concluding chorus of the latter begins with the words Stürzt nieder, Millionen (“Fall to your knees, ye millions”)—a close paraphrase of Schiller’s “Ode to Joy,” the text Beethoven used in the final movement of the Ninth. The most direct precursor of the “Choral” Symphony is certainly the Choral Fantasy (1808), but let it also be remembered that Beethoven’s only opera, Fidelio, contains another quote from Schiller’s poem in its final scene: Wer ein holdes Weib errungen... (“A man who has found a gracious wife...”)

The poem had preoccupied Beethoven since 1792: in that year, an acquaintance of the composer’s informed Schiller’s sister that:

“A young man...whose talents are universally praised...proposes... to compose Schiller’s Freude, and indeed strophe by strophe. I expect something perfect for as far as I know him he is wholly devoted to the great and the sublime.”

Camilla Tilling, soprano
Kelley O’Connor, mezzo-soprano
Issachah Savage, tenor
Ryan McKinny, bass-baritone
The Washington Chorus
Eugene Rogers, artistic director
National Symphony Orchestra
Gianandrea Noseda, conductor

No biography found.

Booklet for Beethoven: Symphony No. 9