| Brussels Philharmonic | |
| Michel Tabachnik | Conductor |
| Ivo Pogorelić | Piano |
| Les Cris de Paris | |
| Geoffroy Jourdain | Choirmaster / chorus director |
| Chœur de l'Armée Française | |
| Aurore Tillac | Choirmaster / chorus director |
Freedom on the march: Beethoven’s only opera is an appeal for freedom. Thanks to its beautiful overture, the version entitled Leonore is the one best known. A struggle for freedom for Michel Tabachnik, and a metaphorical struggle between orchestra and pianist for Schumann.
In a text written by Schönberg himelf for one of his last works, A Survivor from Warsaw (1947), freedom is bitter and distant: a survivor of the camps testifies to the brutality of the Nazis. The end of the score is particularly shocking: while the Jews are being counted up to be taken to the gas chambers, they find the strength to offer up a prayer.