Beethoven: Symphonies 1-9 / Barenboim From Proms

Following on from last year’s momentous Beethoven For All project on Decca, this new DVD box set contains all nine Beethoven symphonies, filmed at the 2012 Proms, where the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra under conductor Daniel Barenboim took residence for a week. The box set also features the BBC documentary ‘Barenboim on Beethoven: Nine Symphonies that changed the world’ by Michael Waldman and Peter Dale. The film gains a unique insight into the nine symphonies, as well as the musicians’ views on the difficulties and delights of performing these inimitable works. Captured within the documentary, Daniel Barenboim and his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra take the complete cycle of Beethoven symphonies on tour to China and South Korea, to explore why these works are so often regarded as one of the greatest achievements of Western culture. Their tour culminates in a performance of the 9th Symphony, next to the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. Barenboim and members of the orchestra reveal what it is about this music that is so striking today and what made Beethoven’s music so revolutionary at the time it was written.

Price: $69.98