Beethoven / Antonini / Kammerorchester Basel - Beethoven: Symphony 9 - Music & Performance - CD

The Kammerorchester Basel under the direction of Giovanni Antonini is completing it's Beethoven cycle - "one of the most exciting Beethoven recordings of our day" (Rondo). After Symphonies 1 to 8 received high critical acclaim as "sensational recordings" (NDR), the world-famous Symphony No. 9 in D minor, composed by Beethoven between 1817 and 1824, is now being released. In this recording, too, the charismatic Giovanni Antonini and the award-winning Kammerorchester Basel - which follows historical performance practice as well as performing on modern instruments - demonstrate how spectacularly new Beethoven can sound. The rousing interpretation, which veritably sparkles with musical energy, stands out for it's breathtaking clarity delivered with incisive precision. The orchestra plays an extraordinarily lean Beethoven, revealing merciless contrasts. Antonini summons a uniquely concise tonal palette. The symphony concludes with the strikingly dramatic and stirring "Ode to Joy" movement based on Friedrich Schiller's poem from 1785. This recording features the excellent singing of the Wroclaw Philharmonic Choir, Swiss soprano Regula Mühlemann, mezzo-soprano Marie-Claude Chappuis, tenor Maximilian Schmitt and baritone Thomas E. Bauer.