Live concert film of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Riccardo Muti, captured in September 2014 at Orchestra Hall in Chicago’s Symphony Center for the opening of the 2014-2015 season and released in May 2015. Completed in 1824, the Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, culminates in the choral finale “Ode to Joy,” set to Schiller’s poem. Muti, the CSO’s music director, offers a broad, taut reading, supported by the Chicago Symphony Chorus prepared by Duain Wolfe and a first-rank quartet of soloists: soprano Camilla Nylund, mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Gubanova, tenor Matthew Polenzani and bass-baritone Eric Owens. This live performance conveys the kinetic energy, brooding power and spirit of brotherhood of the score, from the opening Allegro to the closing Presto. A reference full concert for classical music lovers, filmed in high definition by one of America’s great orchestras in its historic hall.
Setlist
- Beethoven — Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, I. Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso
- II. Molto vivace
- III. Adagio molto e cantabile
- IV. Presto – Allegro assai (Ode to Joy)
Personnel & credits
- Riccardo Muti — conductor
- Chicago Symphony Orchestra
- Chicago Symphony Chorus (Duain Wolfe, chorus director)
- Camilla Nylund — soprano
- Ekaterina Gubanova — mezzo-soprano
- Matthew Polenzani — tenor
- Eric Owens — bass-baritone
