Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 D minor op. 125

In this concert performance, Beethoven's Ninth is co-sculpted by the actress Katharina Schumacher and students of the Elbschule school for hearing and communication. Texts read aloud, sign language and loudspeakers give the music's message extra oomph, allowing Schiller's appeal and Beethoven's ideas to come extraordinarily close to one another. Sylvain Cambreling and the Symphoniker Hamburg succeed in making an overly familiar symphony into a penetrating new experience. There is no imposing choral finale, but rather a direct address to the audience, spoken to the camera.