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Music

Beethoven's Ninth

March 3, 2020

Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony may be the most popular piece of classical music in the world.

https://p.dw.com/p/3YoLT
Doku Beethovens Neunte
Image: DW/ZDFArte

This documentary showcases current interpretations and introduces passionate personalities who bring us closer to Beethoven and his work.

Komponist und DJ Gabriel Prokofiev
Gabriel Prokofiev, Conductor and DJImage: Getty Images/AFP/A. Jocard

Among the protagonists featured in the seven stories that make up this film are Chinese composer and Oscar prize-winner Tan Dun, English composer Gabriel Prokofiev, and the Greek-Russian conductor Teodor Currentzis. He has no doubt about the significance of this symphony: "If somebody from another planet asks, "What is human civilization?” what can you say? It's better to play the 9th Symphony. It is evidence of human civilization.”

In 1817 the Royal Philharmonic Society in London commissioned Beethoven to compose his Ninth Symphony. Almost two centuries later, the same organization commissioned Chinese composer Tan Dun to write a choral work, "Nine,” inspired by Beethoven's Ninth. The documentary follows Tan Dun as his composition evolves. It also traces different renditions of the symphony around the globe.

Pressebilder Film Beethovens Neunte von Christian Berger | Tan Dun
Tan Dun, ComposerImage: DW/C. Berger
Teodor Currentzis Dirigent
Teodor Currentzis, ConductorImage: Getty Images/AFP/S. de Sakutin

Greek conductor Teodor Currentzis and his Russian orchestra MusicAeterna shake up the Salzburg Festival with an uncompromising interpretation. In the Congolese capital Kinshasa, the Orchestre Symphonique Kimbanguiste approaches the work under difficult conditions. Meanwhile, in Osaka in Japan rehearsals are underway for a performance of the Ninth with a chorus of 10,000 amateur singers conducted by Yutaka Sado.

Pressebilder Film Beethovens Neunte von Christian Berger | Paul Whittaker
Paul Whittaker, Musicologist Image: DW/C. Berger

In Barcelona, Spain hearing-impaired young people feel their way to Beethoven’s work together with deaf musicologist Paul Whittaker and members of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. In a poor neighborhood of Sao Paolo in Brazil, the youth orchestra Sinfonica Heliópolis prepares to perform the Ninth. A different approach to Beethoven’s work is taken by composer and DJ Gabriel Prokofiev in his "Beethoven 9 Symphonic Remix" which he presented at the Beethoven Festival in Bonn, Germany. 
 

Braodcasting Hours: 

Part 1: 

DW English

WED 09.12.2020 – 01:15 UTC
WED 09.12.2020 – 05:15 UTC
THU 10.12.2020 – 09:15 UTC
SAT 12.12.2020 – 02:15 UTC
SUN 13.12.2020 – 08:15 UTC

Cape Town UTC +2 | Delhi UTC +5,5 | Hong Kong UTC +8
Lagos UTC +1 | Cape Town UTC +2 | Nairobi UTC +3 
San Francisco UTC -8 | Edmonton UTC -7 | New York UTC -5
London UTC +0 | Berlin UTC +1 | Moscow UTC +3

DW Deutsch+

THU 10.12.2020 – 09:15 UTC
SUN 13.12.2020 – 08:15 UTC 

Vancouver UTC -8 | New York UTC -5 | Sao Paulo UTC -3 



Part 2: 

DW English

WED 16.12.2020 – 01:15 UTC
WED 16.12.2020 – 05:15 UTC
THU 17.12.2020 – 09:15 UTC
SAT 19.12.2020 – 02:15 UTC
SUN 20.12.2020 – 08:15 UTC

Cape Town UTC +2 | Delhi UTC +5,5 | Hong Kong UTC +8
Lagos UTC +1 | Cape Town UTC +2 | Nairobi UTC +3 
San Francisco UTC -8 | Edmonton UTC -7 | New York UTC -5
London UTC +0 | Berlin UTC +1 | Moscow UTC +3

DW Deutsch+

THU 17.12.2020 – 09:15 UTC
SUN 20.12.2020 – 08:15 UTC 

Vancouver UTC -8 | New York UTC -5 | Sao Paulo UTC -3