Beethoven’s Dazzling Orchestrations Explained 

Probably, Shostakovich's 4th

Mahler's 5th

I love Beethoven’s 8th Symphony. My favourite of his is probably 6 though. Favourite symphony altogether is a tough one to call… I like Bizet’s “Roma”, Bruckner 3 and 7… Mahler 5… Lutosławski 4? I’ve recently been captivated by Dvorak’s late orchestral poems. There’s some great orchestration in those pieces. One thing that caught my ear the other day was a rising figure, not too dissimilar to the descending motif you highlight first from Beethoven’s symphony. However, what I liked about it in recording was how it panned around the string orchestra from the Cellos on the right, through the violas and second violins, to the first violins on the left. Great video, really enjoyed it and took a lot from it.

Mahlers 1st

Beethoven´s 3th ´Eroica´

Stravinsky was once asked, what is good instrumentation? To which he replied, "when one is unaware it is instrumentation". Beethoven had no need to show off!

It's a good idea but the problem is that it's such a huge topic that I doubt I could say anything useful in a video unless it were 16 hours long.. and then nobody would watch it ;)

The slow movement is one of my favourite things Beethoven ever wrote!

It sounds to me (as a listener and not as a player) that the fast movements are especially challenging for the string players.

I think the only Beethoven symphonies not on the level of all his other ones, is the 1st and the 8th. The 8th is amazing but something about it feels unfinished to me, and yeah the 1st is also amazing, but I feel 2-7, and 9 are beyond human! I love following the prose of the 6th while listening to it and visualizing landing in this village and all the people.

@@Acujeremy The eight is my favorite and was also a favorite of Beethoven 's

@@LMR72 Can you show me the quote that shows Beethoven claiming the 8th is his favorite? Why is that one your favorite of all of them?

Wow, Eduardo, that's profoundly "right."

I'm very glad to hear that.

so true

Hmmm, bit of an over-reach for some of us I think

My pleasure.

Thank you! Much appreciated!

Thanks! I'm aiming for continuous, incremental improvement.

quite true, there are independent bass parts in the Trio of the 8th Symphony!

I took Beethoven’s first movement of the Moonlight Sonata - the first 40 measures - sped it up from the original 60 bpm to 80 bpm, and by means of Logic Pro X’s synth voices orchestrated the piano piece. I added the rap in Spanish of the Mexican artist Lucressia Bravo, and the text to voice capability of OS X of selected quotes from the Tao Te Ching in Spanish. It is called Oda al Fin de los Fines… ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-z7c0U5jfu6k.html

I took Beethoven’s first movement of the Moonlight Sonata - the first 40 measures - sped it up from the original 60 bpm to 80 bpm, and by means of Logic Pro X’s synth voices orchestrated the piano piece. I added the rap in Spanish of the Mexican artist Lucressia Bravo, and the text to voice capability of OS X of selected quotes from the Tao Te Ching in Spanish. It is called Oda al Fin de los Fines… ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-z7c0U5jfu6k.html

of course.

yes -- that is definitely the case. Orchestration is as personal as a fingerprint. It is not something that is added to the music--it is a component of the music itself. If you'd like to support my work, you can do so at this link: www.patreon.com/samuelandreyev

Stravinsky was famous for composing at the piano as well, although I have no doubt he was hearing the parts in their orchestral roles from the very beginning.

Of course, I should mention Samuel provides a few examples in the video: Stravinksy, Mahler, and Tchaikovsky (as well as Strauss). (I'm a little disappointed with myself, actually. I should have been able to recall the range of colors in Stravinsky's 'The Rite of Spring' and Tchaikovsky's ballets.)

Thanks, I strive to present my ideas in the clearest way possible. Any feedback is most appreciated :)

it's in the video description

Many had critical remarks about number of music parametres in Beethoven's ouvre, how orchestration was sloopy, how he couldn't write nice harmonies or nice melodies, etc. I have two comments on that. First, if they dug deeper into his works, they would find counter examples for any of such criticisms. The 4th symphony mentioned in the video is just one of those instances that beat the argument. Second, the critics of Beethoven are often not fans of Beethoven, which easily makes them biased. No beautiful melodies? One could apply the same reasoning to Prokofiev. But the thing is, Prokofiev loved to compose fast and exciting movements and focused on them in his music (and is primarily known for them) just as Beethoven loved to compose heroic music. It is the matter of personal preference, character, and style. Anyone who says Beethoven _wasn't able_ or _didn't know_ how to write melodies, and then uses the slow movement of the 7th symphony to prove their point, completely misses the fact that this movement is intended to be a funeral march, not an Italian arietta. One would expect that it is crystal clear that the repeating tone in the "melody" merely serves as a fundamental stasis for the changing harmonies in the lower register, which are supposed to be in focus in the passage. Equally so, such critics often ignore the sheer existence of Spring Sonata, for example.

Bernstein was being an edgelord in an era when iconoclasm was the order of the day.

@@markoslavicek Agreed. I was a jazz musician and Beethoven to me, like Samuel points out in the Kenny G video, "it all sounded the same". After studying and learning he became one of my heroes. People say perfection doesn't exist, but I would say Beethoven reached it in many instances. His violin concerto blew me away so much it took me weeks and a lot of hot chocolate to recover.

@@AxMiha3D Violin concerto, another great example of nailing all music parametres: beautiful melodes, creative harmonies, experimental orchestratio and form (inclusion of timpani in soloist kadenza).

@@markoslavicek Yes, AND, as a jazz musician I would even say, "swing", in the deeper sense - i.e. not just rhythm. That "wrong" note (D# on bar 10 - 1st mov) instantly reminded me of the jazz (long gone) world. Humor, wit etc. The man was just something else. It's a bit weird to talk about his orchestration, because it is inseparable from the rest. He's one thing, bang, no separate parts. One whole thing, and I think that's what Bernstein meant. if you take it apart, all the parts are made up of nothing much, but together it's a miracle. I think that's what he said, and adoringly so. (Not to cast aspersions on the great Leonard).