Ludwig van Beethoven headed for Symphony No. 9 literally his entire life. As early as the 1790s, he had an eye on Ode to Joy, perhaps the most well-known poem by Friedrich Schiller, written on the threshold of the French Revolution (1786). In his mature and, in particular, later years, the deaf composer with an acute ‘hearing vision’ increasingly distanced himself from conventional forms and genres and wrote parts beyond the possibilities of instruments of his day. He nurtured the idea of a symphony with a choir for at least several years. The history of the Ninth’s interpretations includes 200 years of staggering revelations and lingering stagnation. Performed by the musicAeterna orchestra, choir, and guest soloists under the baton of Teodor Currentzis, Beethoven’s opus magnum acquires the original poignancy and energy of a recent discovery.

30 years after his last visit to Japan, John Williams has returned for a special concert – making hi...

For Mahler, symphonies always were a means of interpreting the most convoluted philosophical problem...

The Berliner Philharmoniker’s European Concert, held each year on 1 May, is invariably an internatio...

In Anton Bruckner’s 7th Symphony, the listener encounters a music characterized by great spaciousnes...

Utopia, the new orchestra of conductor Teodor Currentzis, can be experienced for the first time in V...

Valery Gergiev is widely recognised as the greatest modern interpreter of Tchaikovsky’s music and th...

70 Years Young is André Rieu’s ultimate concert featuring musical highlights chosen by the maestro h...

In 1936, two female artists (a singer and a pianist) visit the city of Lushnja, which was very conse...

Leonard Bernstein made these recordings during his wonderfully productive collaboration with the Wie...

The film covers a hundred years in the lives of the Ricordi family, the Milan publishing house of th...

Filmed on tour at Berlin's Philharmonie, this account of the valedictory Ninth Symphony is an intens...
Pierre Boulez conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in a special concert from the Barbican,...


In the 1960s Karl Böhm (1894–1981) had made his mark as interpreter of Mozart with the the Berlin Ph...

There are only a couple of DVD recordings of Mozart's Symphony No. 40. Fortunately, this one by Karl...



The Süddeutsche Zeitung summed up this highly acclaimed performance of Bruckner's monumental Fifth S...

The story of a virtuoso piano player who lives his entire life aboard an ocean liner. Born and raise...