For much of the 19th century practically the only way for most people to hear Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony was to be able to play it themselves on the keyboard, or to hear their neighbors play it for them. It was beyond the capabilities of most orchestras at the time, both in difficulty and in the forces required to perform it.

Of course, now we have many fine recorded performances available at the touch of a button, but it’s nevertheless interesting to hear the score performed in the two piano arrangement that Liszt devised, especially as done recently at Wigmore Hall by Cédric Pescia and Philippe Cassard.

They prefaced the Ninth with the Schubert Fantasy in F minor, but I’ve queued the video to start at the beginning of the Beethoven.

These live Wigmore Hall performances are only available for a limited time.