Munich Philharmonic: New Year’s Eve ConcertNicholas Collon (conductor)
Ringing in the New Year with Beethoven’s Ninth is a favourite tradition with the Munich Philharmonic. With this concert series, the British conductor Nicholas Collon makes his debut with the Munich Philharmonic, supported as usual by the Philharmonic Choir and an excellent quartet of soloists.
Ringing in the New Year with Beethoven’s Ninth is a favourite tradition with the Munich Philharmonic. With this concert series, the British conductor Nicholas Collon makes his debut with the Munich Philharmonic, supported as usual by the Philharmonic Choir and an excellent quartet of soloists.
In 1989, just before the year’s end, Beethoven’s Symphony No 9 was performed to celebrate the fall of the Iron Curtain. Conducted by Leonard Bernstein, the composer’s symphonic plea to humanity was performed on either side of the former divide – once in the West Berlin Philharmonie and once in the Schauspielhaus am Gendarmenmarkt in East Berlin. The orchestra comprised members of both East and West German orchestras plus musicians from the nations present in the formerly divided Berlin – the USA, the former Soviet Union, France and the United Kingdom. As if that was not enough symbolism, the historic moment prompted Bernstein to make a small but significant change to the text, replacing the “Freude” (joy) in “Freude, schöner Götterfunken” with “Freiheit”, meaning freedom.
Programme
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No 9 in D minor, Op 125
Conductor and soloists
- Nicholas Collon, conductor
- Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha, soprano
- Karen Cargill, mezzo-soprano
- Maximilian Schmitt, tenor
- Christopher Maltman, bass-baritone
- Munich Philharmonic
- Munich Philharmonic Choir; rehearsal: Andreas Herrmann
