Live filmed performance of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, conducted by Jordi Savall leading Le Concert des Nations. This full concert documents the opening night of the Beethovenfest Bonn 2021, given on 20 August 2021 at the World Conference Center Bonn (WCCB), in the composer’s home city. True to his approach, Savall performs the score on period instruments, favouring sharper timbres, brisk tempos and a rebalanced texture drawn from the latest scholarship on Beethoven’s text. Le Concert des Nations, the ensemble Savall founded, plays all four movements, from the dark opening Allegro to the choral finale on Schiller’s Ode to Joy. For that final movement the orchestra is joined by the Vox Bona Chamber Choir of the Kreuzkirche Bonn and by a quartet of vocal soloists. Filmed by Deutsche Welle, this complete live rendition offers a historically informed reading of one of the most performed works in the classical repertoire, captured at a landmark moment in Germany’s post-pandemic concert life.
Setlist
- Symphonie n°9 en ré mineur, op. 125 — I. Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso
- Symphonie n°9 en ré mineur, op. 125 — II. Molto vivace
- Symphonie n°9 en ré mineur, op. 125 — III. Adagio molto e cantabile
- Symphonie n°9 en ré mineur, op. 125 — IV. Presto – Allegro assai (Ode à la joie)
Personnel & credits
- Jordi Savall — conductor
- Le Concert des Nations — orchestra (period instruments)
- Vox Bona Chamber Choir der Kreuzkirche Bonn — choir
- Sara Gouzy — soprano
- Laila Salome Fischer — mezzo-soprano
- Martin Platz — tenor
- Manuel Walser — baritone
