Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony

Inspired by Carnegie Hall’s 2007 Berlin in Lights festival, we conclude our celebration of the German city with Beethoven’s valedictory Symphony No. 9—a choral-orchestral extravaganza that culminates in the “Ode to Joy” finale that has become the most frequently cited affirmation of human solidarity in music. Recorded in 1968 in Berlin’s Philharmonie, Herbert von Karajan leads the incomparable Berliner Philharmoniker, along with soprano Gundula Janowitz, mezzo-soprano Christa Ludwig, tenor Jess Thomas, and bass-baritone Walter Berry.