Teldec: Beethoven — Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 / Harnoncourt (Audio CD)

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Product Details:

• Product Type: Audio CD
• Brand / Label: Teldec (Teldec Classics International)
• Catalog Number: 9031757132
• UPC: 9031757132
• Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
• Work: Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125
• Conductor: Nikolaus Harnoncourt
• Orchestra: The Chamber Orchestra of Europe
• Genre: Classical / Orchestral
• Condition: New, factory sealed

Product Features

• Format: CD
• Discs: 1
• Total timing: 66:44
• Sound: DDD (digital recording)
• Made in: Germany (Warner Music Manufacturing Europe)
• Label code: LC 6019
• Booklet: enclosed (texts in German, English, French)

Overview

This is Harnoncourt's celebrated Beethoven Ninth with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, recorded for Teldec in 1991. It's the leaner, more transparent reading that came out of his complete cycle with the COE — fast tempos, sharp articulation, and a refusal to let the score sink into the heavy, monumental tradition that dominated the work for most of the twentieth century.

The smaller orchestra is the point. Inner voices come through, the rhythms bite, and the famous finale arrives with clarity rather than sheer mass. Harnoncourt's period-informed thinking reshapes a piece everyone thinks they know.

The vocal quartet — Charlotte Margiono, Birgit Remmert, Rudolf Schasching and Robert Holl — is joined by the Arnold Schoenberg Chor under Erwin Ortner for the "Ode to Joy." Four movements, just over 66 minutes, in a clean digital recording.

Interesting Facts

• Harnoncourt recorded his Beethoven symphony cycle with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe between 1990 and 1991; it became one of the most discussed cycles of its era.
• Beethoven completed the Ninth in 1824 and was almost completely deaf by its premiere in Vienna.
• The finale's setting of Schiller's "An die Freude" ("Ode to Joy") was the first time a major composer used voices within a symphony.
• The Arnold Schoenberg Chor, founded by Erwin Ortner in 1972, is one of Austria's leading choral ensembles.
• The cover uses an original illustration by San Francisco artist David Grove.

Track Listing

1. Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso — 15:04
2. Molto vivace — 13:42
3. Adagio molto e cantabile (Peter Richards, horn) — 13:34
4. Finale: Presto – Allegro assai / Presto – Rezitativo / Allegro assai vivace alla marcia / Allegro ma non tanto — 24:24

Publishers

Released by Teldec Classics International GmbH (A Time Warner Company). ℗ 1991, © 1992. Manufactured in Germany by Warner Music Manufacturing Europe.

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