Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker BBC Proms

MUSIC: "Ode To Joy" by Beethoven

The Ninth Symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven

is the most ambitious of his great revolutionary works.

There are few symphonies in the history of classical music

that reach out over the centuries

with such memorable and universal appeal.

With each successive symphony,

Beethoven broke the mould that he had created,

and with the Ninth, his last,

he wrote a work of well over an hour in duration,

using chorus and soloists in the final movement,

which is the setting of Schiller's Ode To Joy,

and evokes universal human brotherhood.

In this classic recording from the 2004 BBC Proms, Sir Simon Rattle

brought the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra to London

and united them with the City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus

and four world-class soloists.

This performance took place

just two years after Rattle took up his role as chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic,

and it's fascinating to hear them perform this great work -

the summit of symphonic repertoire.

It's the peak.

There are other symphonies which are more...which are more perfect...

where there's not so many edges.

Part of the glory of the Ninth

is that this was a man who had written

eight great symphonies already

and had had an enormous emotional, psychological, physical crisis

in between the Eighth Symphony and this.

And so it's someone looking at the world in a very different way,

in a much more cosmic way,

and in a way where simply the idea

that there are edges and grotesqueries and uglinesses

simply doesn't matter.

Then he'd really release the reins.

So here is Simon Rattle from his 2004 Proms performance to conduct

Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.

MUSIC STARTS

APPLAUSE

MUSIC STARTS

MURMURING

MUSIC RESTARTS DRAMATICALLY

HE SINGS IN GERMAN

THEY SING IN GERMAN

THEY ALL SING IN GERMAN

THEY ALL SING IN GERMAN

HE SINGS IN GERMAN

THEY ALL SING IN GERMAN

THEY ALL SING IN GERMAN

THEY SING IN GERMAN

THEY SING IN GERMAN

THEY ALL SING IN GERMAN

THEY SING IN GERMAN

THEY SING IN GERMAN

THEY ALL SING IN GERMAN

THEY SING IN GERMAN

THEY ALL SING IN GERMAN

THEY SING IN GERMAN

THEY ALL SING IN GERMAN

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

The Ninth Symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven

in this classic performance from 2004.

The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra was conducted by Sir Simon Rattle

with the City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus,

and the soloists were Christiane Oelze, soprano,

Birgit Remmert, mezzo-soprano,

Timothy Robinson, tenor,

and John Relyea, bass.

APPLAUSE CONTINUES