Beethoven's Ninth Symphony
Tom Service explores the Ode to Joy from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and asks whether this musical vision of utopia is more dangerous than the composer could ever have imagined.
In a programme first broadcast in 2017, Tom Service explores arguably the most famous piece of music in the world: the Ode to Joy from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. It's a piece which has been appropriated by everyone from the European Union, to the writer Anthony Burgess, who used it as an unsettling counterpoint to the murderous exploits of the characters in his novel A Clockwork Orange. Tom asks whether Beethoven's original vision of a musical utopia has actually turned out to be far more dangerous than the composer could ever have imagined.
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Ludwig van Beethoven
March from a Clockwork Orange (Ninth Symphony, Fourth Movement)
Performer: Wendy Carlos.- Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange (Music from the Soundtrack).
- Warner Bros.
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Ludwig van Beethoven
Ode to Joy
Performer: Paul Robeson. -
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Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No. 9, 1st Mvt
Performer: Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. Performer: GewundhausChor. Performer: Gewundhaus Kinderchor. Performer: MDR Rundfunkchor Leipzig. Performer: Riccardo Chailly.- DECCA.
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Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No. 9, 3rd Mvt
Performer: Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. Performer: GewundhausChor. Performer: Gewundhaus Kinderchor. Performer: MDR Rundfunkchor Leipzig. Performer: Riccardo Chailly.- DECCA.
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Michael Tippett
Symphony No. 3, Slow blues
Performer: Heather Harper. Performer: London Symphony Orchestra. Performer: Colin Davis.- LONDON.
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Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No. 9, last Mvt
Performer: Leonard Bernstein. Performer: Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Performer: Staatskapelle Dresden. Performer: Orchestra of the Kirov Theatre. Performer: St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra. Performer: London Symphony Orchestra. Performer: New York Philharmonic. Performer: Orchestre de Paris 鈥� Philharmonie. Performer: Bavarian Radio Symphony Choir. Performer: Members of the Berlin Radio Chorus. Performer: Dresden Philharmonic Children's Chorus.- DG.
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Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No. 9, last Mvt
Performer: Berliner Philharmoniker. Performer: Bruno Kittel Choir. Performer: Wilhelm Furtw盲ngler.- MUSIC & ARTS.
Broadcasts
- Sun 26 Feb 2017 17:00麻豆社 Radio 3
- Sun 28 Oct 2018 17:00麻豆社 Radio 3
- Sun 6 Sep 2020 17:00麻豆社 Radio 3
- Fri 11 Sep 2020 16:30麻豆社 Radio 3
- Fri 30 Dec 2022 16:30麻豆社 Radio 3
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