More castaways on Desert Island Discs have chosen Beethoven's ninth symphony for company than any other piece. The symphony's 97 desert island fans range from Fred Zinneman to Claudio Abbado and from Glenys Kinnock to Enoch Powell. And it's a fair bet that when the votes are counted in the current "Your Desert Island Discs" poll of listeners, that Beethoven's last and longest symphony will be somewhere there or thereabouts too.
Lots of other composers, from Haydn to Shostakovich, have written ninth symphonies. But only one is known simply as The Ninth Symphony. Right from the moment of its first performance in Vienna in 1824, Beethoven's D minor symphony op 125 has enjoyed unique status.
Certainly, none has cast a longer shadow over later composers. Brahms battled for years before he managed to write his first symphony — which was immediately dubbed Beethoven's Tenth. Bruckner and Mahler were both oppressed by the problem of writing their own ninths — and Bruckner died before finishing his. Mahler even reorchestrated Beethoven's Ninth before writing his own.
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