[ Deutsche Grammophon / 5 CD Box Set ]
Release Date: Friday 15 July 2022
"I am interested in how Beethoven's music can surprise us today. Our interpretation should feel to the audience as if they are hearing this music for the first time. That is my goal." - Yannick Nézet-Séguin.
Originally planned for April 2020 in celebration of Beethoven's 250th birthday, the project Beethoven: The Symphonies is the third composer-led collaboration between Grammy-Winner Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the COE, having previously performed and recorded together complete Schumann and Mendelssohn cycles in 2014 and 2017 respectively.
The Symphony Cycle was going to use the now complete performance material featuring the musical text of the New Beethoven Complete Edition. Especially in Symphony No. 9 one can literally hear and experience the difference, as Beethoven's original and recently re-discovered Double Bassoon part is used for the very first time. The recording is also the COE's first complete Beethoven Cycle on record since the landmark disc with Nikolaus Harnoncourt in the 1990s.