MOČNIK An die Freude - Hommage à Beethoven / Michael Alber | Deutsche Grammophon

With his Hommage à Beethoven, Damijan Močnik draws on Schiller’s celebrated ode, immortalised by Beethoven over 200 years ago in the monumental finale of his Ninth Symphony – a work that continues to embody shared joy, gratitude, and the spirit of hope and protest alike. Rather than quoting Beethoven directly, Močnik offers fleeting musical reminiscences: brief motifs emerge in the choir and piano, illuminated by the driving energy of the percussion. It is this subtle dialogue with Beethoven that lends the work its distinctive expressive power and compelling sense of drama.