Sir Colin Davis tackles a work whose uncompromising nature makes it as great a challenge as anything in the choral repertoire, whether you regard it as a statement of the composer's belief in the spiritual potential of man or his faith in a supreme being. 'A musician must make affirmations,' says Davis. 'If a musician cannot believe in music as a universal ideal, what is he left with? We may be encircled by gloom but music gives us a chance to throw what Meredith calls "that faint thin line upon the shore". ... Beethoven is a man at war with himself but a man who is determined to win.'

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