Ten Thousand Voices

For a change of pace, here is a Japanese orchestra with an accompanying choir of 10,000 singers performing the Ode to Joy from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony:

From the notes accompanying the video:

The performance of “Daiku”, “The Ninth”, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with 10000 (amateur) chorus singers is a Japanese highlight every year in the end of December. Here is the last movement, recorded at the 2011 concert in Osaka, this year dedicated especially to the memory of the victims of the disastrous tsunami in March.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125
IV. Finale. Presto – Allegro assai – Allegro assai vivace (alla Marcia) – Andante maestoso – Adagio ma non troppo ma divoto – Allegro energico e sempre ben marcato – Allegro ma non tanto – Presto – Maestoso – Prestissimo (with Chorus on Friedrich Schiller’s “Ode an die Freude” / “Ode to Joy” / “歓喜に寄せて”)

Keiko Yokoyama, soprano
Masako Teshima, mezzo-soprano
Satoshi Nishimura, tenor
Eijiro Kai, baritone
Choir of the 10000 from Osaka and Sendai
Suntory Orchestra of the 10000
Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra
Yutaka Sado, conductor

Recorded at Osaka-Jo Hall, Osaka / Miyagi Gauin Joshi Daigaku Hall, Sendai, 2011