As 2002 draws to a close, public halls are bracing themselves for the regular flood of yearend classical music concerts featuring Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 "Choral."
One would think that many Japanese simply could not celebrate New Year's Day without listening to a 200-member chorus belting out the symphony's "Freude (joy)!" refrain.
Yoichiro Omachi will conduct the symphony on three occasions this month. Omachi, a graduate of the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music who also studied under Hans Swarowsky at the Vienna Academy of Music, says that though the composition certainly evokes feelings of exultation, it also contains a rather serious political message.