Simon Rattle conducts Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Madrid
In the Digital Concert Hall, experiencing the Berliner Philharmoniker outside their home base – the Philharmonie – always has a special appeal. In this recording, we take you to the impressive Teatro Real in Madrid where in the summer of 2013 Sir Simon Rattle conducted Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. “A miracle,” was how the newspaper El País described the concert before immediately correcting itself: “No, reality in its most beautiful form.”
This was a special honour for the Berliner Philharmoniker: Queen Sophia of Spain attended one of the concerts and afterwards welcomed the musicians and their chief conductor. The concerts themselves were not only a musical, but also a European event: A German orchestra with a British conductor in Spain, in addition to a multinational ensemble of soloists with the soprano Camilla Tilling (Sweden), contralto Nathalie Stutzmann (France), bass Dimitry Ivashchenko (Russia) and an overseas guest, the Canadian tenor Joseph Kaiser.
All the more appropriate then, that the work of the evening was Beethoven’s Ninth, whose final movement – in an arrangement by Herbert von Karajan – has been the official anthem of the European Union since 1985. This interpretation also allowed room for expressive development beyond the “Ode to Joy”, such as the Adagio molto, which here unfolds like a delicate piece of chamber music. The exultant finale built up to a stupendous climax.
Berliner Philharmoniker
Sir Simon Rattle
Coro Titular del Teatro Real
© 2013 EuroArts Music International
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Artists
Our recommendations
- Simon Rattle with Bruckner’s Seventh in Taipei
- Europakonzert 2011 from Madrid with Simon Rattle and Cañizares
- Simon Rattle conducts Wagner’s “Götterdämmerung” at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence
- The Berliner Philharmoniker, Simon Rattle and Karita Mattila at the “Proms”
- Simon Rattle conducts Bruckner, Ravel and Hosokawa in Taiwan
- Concert with Mariss Jansons and Hilary Hahn from Suntory Hall
