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.

The symphony should be understood in the context of the period in which it was written, Omachi said in a recent interview with The Japan Times. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, European political sensibilities were greatly influenced by the French Revolution, which espoused the ideals of "freedom, equality and fraternity," he explained.

Omachi concurs with the theory put forth by renowned conductor Lovro von Matacic (1899-1985) that Schiller's "Ode to Joy," -- sung in the symphony's final movement -- originally used the word "Freiheit" (freedom), not "Freude."

Schiller later replaced "Freiheit" with "Freude" to veil his message from censors, Omachi said.

In his upcoming concerts, Omachi will distribute copies of an essay that gives a detailed analysis of Symphony No. 9.

Summarizing his position, Omachi said that by deliberately avoiding an emphasis on the third note of the tonic chord in the symphony's first and second movements, Beethoven created hollow sounds.

The third note of the tonic chord determines whether the key is major or minor.

"Because of this approach and because the first and second movements are both in D-minor, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 can be termed as very strange," he said.

Beethoven chose those sounds for the opening movements to symbolize the oppression of the people, their struggle for freedom, as well as the distress, confusion and skepticism they endured in their fight, Omachi said. Only in the fourth and final movement is the people's struggle transformed into victory, he added.

Omachi recalled another point made by Matacic: The final movement's upward five-step interval in the baritone's incantation of "O Freunde (O friends)" is a reversal of the downward five-step interval played by the violins at the beginning of the first movement.

Fortissimos of hollow-sounding, five-step intervals -- missing the third note -- were utilized in the first movement to symbolize that the anger of the people had reached its peak, Omachi added.

However, in the fourth movement, Beethoven heavily uses the third note of the tonic chord as it symbolizes the freedom the people had been searching for, he said.

Omachi also noted that the interval in the baritone's "Freude" part in the final movement of Symphony No. 9 is the same as in "O namenlose Freude!" -- a duet from "Fidelio." The former is in D-major, while the celebratory song from Beethoven's only opera -- which deals with the fate of a political prisoner -- is in G-major.

The call-and-response engaged in by the cellos and the contrabasses in Symphony No. 9's final movement echoes the division among the people, Omachi added.

This part reflects that during the people's struggle for freedom, there were mixed attitudes -- some radical and others more skeptical and resigned, he explained.

"Although Beethoven was influenced by the French Revolution -- and it is possible that he was a Freemason -- he wanted to achieve an ideal world through peaceful means," Omachi said. "This is demonstrated by the fact that the baritone's lyrics in the final movement of Symphony No. 9 included the lines: 'O Brothers, not these notes. But let us sing something more pleasant and joyful.' "

"It is significant that in 1972, the European Union adopted the 'Freude' theme of his Symphony No. 9 as its anthem," said Omachi. "And when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, the German people fully felt what is expressed in the symphony's final movement."