I’ve played the 5th countless times on violin, viola and bass. I’ve listened to so many recordings. Berlin, Concertgebouw, Chicago, Vienna, etc. This is by far the best I’ve heard. Period instruments and tuning, and perfectly executed tempos.
I was looking for a Beethoven 5 recording this morning. Listened to Bernstein with Vienna, just wasn't cutting it. I'm tired of romantic interpretations of Classical era music. I love period instruments and stumbled on this recording. I was taken aback almost from the start. Hearing those natural horns blast, then actual clear sounding strings, finally at a Beethovenesque tempo. I'm blown away by this. The freedom in the sound, the non-romanticization. A stunning recording.
This is how Beethoven demanded his 5th symphony be performed - 108 beats per minute. Even when he was alive, he was furious that other conductors/musicians were performing it too slow. There is an energy to it that I adore.
@@euhdink4501 I've already seen it. What's your point? What do I have to learn? That Beethoven's comments on the score of 108 beats per minute was a forgery? What am I supposed to learn by watching it a second time?
@@searchmeinyoutube First and foremost, thank you for the comment. What Beethoven actually wrote was - "Allegro Con Brio, Metronome Mark 108" and although many musicians find it hard to believe (and perform well), Benjamin Zander studied the 5th/6th exhaustively before returning to Boston. According to Zander - "Beethoven purposely meant 108 bpm because the speed of it was an attack on complacency." Thanks again for the comment, Ram.
Thanks for your comment. Even before I read it, I decided the tempo was too fast. If that is what Beethoven wanted, he disagreed with me, and I am right.
Having heard and grown up in the Germanic tradition of the symphony, with much slower tempi and often with added players, it's refreshing and instructive to hear such a performance as this. Extremely well played and directed. A convincing interpretation
What I like about this performance is that it’s historically accurate. Some play the baroque violin or the baroque cello and everyone is using gut strings which create this crystal clear natural kind of sound. The clarinets, trumpets, horns and oboes are like the ones from the late 1700s. Also the interpretation is more like a late baroque or classical one and not a romantic one… for me the tempo is perfect, the phrases are not monotonous and filled with too much vibrato, but very vivid and filled with emotions. I am so happy that this great interpretation exists! I will only listen to this recording from now on…
Under such speed, using periodic instruments, the sound has a crystal core, with muddy texture, and the music speak itself -- superb players orchestrated under the great barton of J. E. Gardiner! I used to addict to HvK's cycle for Beethoven symphonies, then gradually get into Gardiner's and dumped HvK.
Actually, physically, literally electrifying! I am blown away--spoiled for life after hearing this, period. I never heard the 5th before hearing *this* 5th. Yes indeed: play it loud!
5:11 The transition from the end of the recapitulation to the beginning of the coda, during the first movement, is the greatest moment of all time. It's as though Beethoven is saying "this is the end of the classical era."
@@tj-co9go Forget about the two abrupt chords at the beginning, what about those wild dissonances in the development section of the same movement? Holy Mother of God, Beethoven has gone AWOL.
I’m am listening to this emotional rendition and this is the first time I’ve been able to weep and feel what I’ve bottled up inside me since the start of the corona virus pandemic. And when the last movement was played, it filled me with hope! Thank you. This performance is truly a gift. Thank you.
I have quite a few versions of this symphony, including several on slate 78s! This is one of my two favorites. I particularly like the use of period instruments. The other one I like at as much, and in some ways more, is the one by the Berlin Philharmonic conduced by Wilhelm Furtwangler in Berlin in 1943, Thank you so much for posting this!
The Ian Hislop documentary that goes with this is HUGELY informative and entertaining ..., especially the tie in with Beethoven's music and the French Revolution themes. Rarely found a pair of videos that bookended each other better, and NEVER have seen that quality in US documentaries. That relationship shows WHY the brisk tempo and energy is ABSOLUTELY necessary!
After listening to dozens of versions of the Beethoven´s cycle, some exalted and others not so much, enlist Sir John Eliot Gardiner and his Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique, daring, lively, cheerful, uplifting, natural and brave. This is the definitive cycle.
Majestic, marvelous, superb! The most powerful and the best performance of Beethoven's 5th I have ever listened. Right tempo: 108 beats per minute. Bravo Beethoven! Bravo maestro John Eliot Gardiner! Bravo Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique
I do so love how this comes out of the delicate ending of the Scherzo and launches into the full blazing fire of the Allegro! No pause between movements, it simply over whelms you. To me it wants me to rise from my seat! Gives me goosebumps and a lump in my throat!!
Wat een geweldige vertolking. Zoveel spanning en drama. Wat een geweldige interpretatie. Een absolute belevenis voor musicus en dirigent. Met verbazing gekeken en geluisterd. Verbazingwekkende uitvoering. Dit moet toch een feest zijn om te vertolken!
This is the version Prof. Robert Greenberg selected for his audio course on How to Listen to and Understand Great Music. Impossible to listen to another after this.
As a piano teacher, I'm working on a similar type of course on more of a children's level. I'd like a second opinion on this: What do you think about the merits of including this version (or this higher-quality posting of it: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-5X8PmVNY1dw.html&ab_channel=Element18) vs. the version that was recorded by the Hanover Band here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-BoJOR2MgjfQ.html
The tempo is fast, but I trust Mr. Gardiner's research that this is close to the tempo that Beethoven likely intended. Also, the period instruments, with their lesser resonance, help with the faster tempo. More modern instruments might sound muddy at this tempo.
Yea it's a bit fast for me. I think it would have been more effective and convincing if he slowed up just a tad around the tension points of the first mvt. and allowed the music to breathe just that bit more. I honestly don't think the tempo works through some of these passages of the 2nd mvt. as I'm still listening while typing this. Tempo isn't a law, and really shouldn't be scrutinized so heavily in my book. But you can clearly hear where it works and where it doesn't.
Opening tempo as written by Beethoven is 108. So yes fast. I believe this is a good interpretation as well as the fermata in the first five bars which drives me crazy when held too long or not long enough. We all have our own interpretational preferences which makes it all very interesting. Thank god for recordings so we can play our favorites over and over; and be challenged by others. This is one of my favorite interpretations.
@@rexsojo don't wanna argue. Perhaps its not solely the tempo. The violins were struggling to keep up with each other, and was not together in a lot of those fast passages. But it could be they were just not playing as well in this recording, or tired, or what have you. But it comes across as very labored and forced. It could have been a lot better. I think he should do another recording, and consider some refinements on his approach, and I mean that respectively. We can always do better.
Pity about the upload sound track but ... wow! And that contrabass section ...! Like the 3rd symphony recording currently on RU-vid intellect, scholarship and enthusiasm lay the music bare. And Sir John's gestures leave no doubt whatsoever about his intentions.
108 bpm as Beethoven composed it, i've been told that there is a version where the conductor is down to 74. This orchestra also use many instruments from the period, the horns for example. The violins have strings of the same type used at the time.
The part where it's actually Prestissimo. Beethoven gives "Allegro con Brio" for the first part, but the metronome mark is in Prestissimo range (crochet 216).
@@oliviu-dorianconstantinesc288 the whole idea of certain tempo markings having a set range of metronome markings is complete nonsense, it depends on the piece, and I think 108 (yes it's 108, not 216, because the movement is supposed to be felt in one beat to the bar rather than two) suits an Allegro con brio well in this context, though I would personally take it a little bit slower
The Conductor John Eliot Gardiner also has a video on the 5th Symphony that gives a complete different interpretation of Beethoven's Symphony. Many of the passages are reflective of his support for the French Revolution as he weaves various musical interludes from well known songs of the Revolution. The notes that Beethoven used as a means to gather his thoughts and improvising even expressing in his notes the three main principles of the Revolution; 1. Liberty : Liberty from oppression which was one of three main principles of French Revolution. 2. Equality : Political, social and economic equality. 3. Fraternity : Brotherhood among people.
This is an awesome video, I love it that you have period instruments because that's how it would have sounded sounded like when Beethoven wrote the piece, thanks' for uploading.
This version, at it’s 108 tempo, is like contemporary Rock Music, in that it makes me want to trash a violin after the performance and shout “Yeah!” to the high heavens!!!
Marvellous performance. I have been listening to this symphony for 60 years now and it is one of the best. I need to listen to it again - once I grab another beer.
For me this performance/orchestra captures the excitement inherent in the symphony. It may be due to the clarity of non-vibrato violins and the slightly raucous nature of the natural horns but it is by far the best, most exciting performance of the 5th I have ever heard.
22:46 Having the trombone trio stand right before playing their C's to blast open the finale is a _stunning_ visual! Yes, they only appear in the finale, but asking them to stand while playing = No camera-work required to focus on them when they do arrive
