Beethoven: Symphony No. 9

Recorded in 2008, Paavo Järvi’s account of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 is one of the most highly energised ever recorded. His use of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, a chamber orchestra of just 40 players, imparts a lean, punchy quality to the opening movement which is bristlingly confrontational in places. Propelled by a similarly jagged energy, the “Molto vivace” scherzo is equally arresting. The finale erupts dramatically in a blaze of timpani, and Järvi shapes the movement in quasi-operatic fashion, his vocal soloists showing an unusually animated response to Schiller’s text. The effect is exhilaratingly joyful, in a way which few other performances equal.