Programme Guide

Following his debut that year, Harnoncourt conducted the Berliner Philharmoniker in 90 concerts in Berlin and at the Easter Festival in Salzburg. For his services, the orchestra presented him with the Hans von Bülow Medal in 2000, and appointed him as an honorary member in 2014.

Here, Harnoncourt and the Philharmoniker present Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony with forceful energy, a performance that Simon Rattle described as having the “effect of a volcanic eruption”. To this day, this work has lost none of its musically explosive power. Nikolaus Harnoncourt is convinced that this is “the only truly political Beethoven symphony”, which takes as its theme the struggle against slavery and tyranny.

The C major Mass, composed at more or less the same time, comes from a completely different world, and its appeal lies in its intimacy and fine rhetoric. However, for Harnoncourt there is a deep connection between the two works: the first deals with Beethoven’s battle with the real world, while the second sets to music his struggle with the ultimate questions of faith.