Symphony No 9

📖 About this album

Beethoven's final symphony, premiered in 1824. Composed while completely deaf, it introduced chorus and vocal soloists into the symphonic form for the first time. The Ode to Joy finale became a universal anthem, later adopted by the European Union.

📝 Our review

Beethoven's Ninth is one of the most commented works in music history and also one of the most recorded. The reference version depends on the conductor, but the score itself is a tour de force: four movements moving from conflict to choral triumph. The Adagio may be the most beautiful thing he ever wrote. The Ode to Joy as a finale still works despite the 20th century wearing it thin through institutional overuse.

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