Symphoniker Hamburg / Sylvain Cambreling

Beethoven’s firework

When Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony was first performed nearly 200 years ago, it was spring in Vienna. How apt: a balmy, sunny day in May goes just as well with this music, still overwhelming in the 21st century, as the start of a new year. With Friedrich Schiller’s »Ode to Joy« as its finale, this work propagates humanity in an enlightened age, and appeals like no other to the noblest human virtues. The Ninth is so full of joy and hope, so positive about the present and the future.