LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA – WIDMANN / BEETHOVEN

François-Xavier Roth conducts Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, plus a modern classic with master-violinist Christian Tetzlaff

Everyone knows Beethoven’s Ode to Joy. But to feel its full beauty and power, you need to hear it the way Beethoven intended – as the life-affirming climax to one of the mightiest adventures in all music, the turbulent, tragic, but ultimately triumphant Ninth Symphony. It’s music that transcends time, so today François Xavier Roth pairs it with a 21st-century classic by one of Beethoven’s biggest fans – the inimitable Jörg Widmann.

It’s played today by the violinist for whom Widmann wrote it, back in 2007, Christian Tetzlaff. One critic called him ‘the finest violinist performing before the public today’, but Roth, too, is known for the freshness and emotional power of his Beethoven. This should be quite a journey.

‘All you millions, I embrace you!’ – Schiller, Ode to Joy