Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Music video number ein

Beethoven's Fifth is the start of a curated approach to classical music videos on the internet

The Musikverein
The Musikverein
Video:

Beethoven: Symphony No.5 in C minor - Christian Thielemann (Full HD 1080p)

This is the first of a series of curated YouTube videos. As videos are featured they will be added to a playlist here.

The first piece to be featured is Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. Don’t give me that look.

Beethoven’s Fifth is just about the median piece of classical music as we know it. If we use the 17th century as the start of the scale and the present day as the end of the scale, then the Fifth lands just about in the middle at 1808. We will use the Fifth as the nail to hold this playlist in place.

Sponsored
Sponsored

The Fifth isn’t a pivotal piece of music in the same way Beethoven’s Third or Ninth symphonies. However, it is the middle of Beethoven’s symphonies and it balances the four symphonies on either side of it.

Beethoven does innovate with the Fifth. The third movement goes into the concluding movement without a break and at the top of the finale the trombones made their debut in the symphonic repertoire.

The trombone was not a new instrument. There is evidence of trombones, or sackbutts, starting around 1450 in Belgium. The role of the trombone was particularly religious.

It was used in sacred music almost exclusively until Mozart used the instrument in The Magic Flute, but only in support of the sacred music for Zarastro and his acolytes. Mozart also gave the trombone a solo in the tuba mirum section of his Requiem, though that kept with the sacred music tradition.

17 years after Mozart’s death, Beethoven shrugged off tradition — again — and sneaked the trombone into the Fifth. You can barely tell they’re there because Beethoven was sensitive in considering the hallowed tradition around the instrument.

I’m kidding. When the trombones come in (around the 24:45 mark in the video) it is as if Beethoven was saying, “Enough of this precious tradition. I want to hear what these things can do. Now sit there and take it.”

In the video the conductor is Christian Thielemann. Thielemann came up under Herbert von Karajan and is currently one of the names being discussed to inherit the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra when Sir Simon Rattle steps down after this season. Some would consider Thielemann an obvious choice, but the BPO has not been able to reach a consensus.

In simple terms, Thielemann conducts everything "up." The music does not start when his baton drops but when it comes up.

The venue in this first video is the world-famous Musikverein in Vienna.

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Kumeay near Rosarito befriended Kumeay on reservation near Boulevard

Called into principal's office for long braid
Next Article

Ray Kroc and Hunter S. Thompson had nothing on Trump

Reader’s Walter Mencken carries the story from 2016 forward
The Musikverein
The Musikverein
Video:

Beethoven: Symphony No.5 in C minor - Christian Thielemann (Full HD 1080p)

This is the first of a series of curated YouTube videos. As videos are featured they will be added to a playlist here.

The first piece to be featured is Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. Don’t give me that look.

Beethoven’s Fifth is just about the median piece of classical music as we know it. If we use the 17th century as the start of the scale and the present day as the end of the scale, then the Fifth lands just about in the middle at 1808. We will use the Fifth as the nail to hold this playlist in place.

Sponsored
Sponsored

The Fifth isn’t a pivotal piece of music in the same way Beethoven’s Third or Ninth symphonies. However, it is the middle of Beethoven’s symphonies and it balances the four symphonies on either side of it.

Beethoven does innovate with the Fifth. The third movement goes into the concluding movement without a break and at the top of the finale the trombones made their debut in the symphonic repertoire.

The trombone was not a new instrument. There is evidence of trombones, or sackbutts, starting around 1450 in Belgium. The role of the trombone was particularly religious.

It was used in sacred music almost exclusively until Mozart used the instrument in The Magic Flute, but only in support of the sacred music for Zarastro and his acolytes. Mozart also gave the trombone a solo in the tuba mirum section of his Requiem, though that kept with the sacred music tradition.

17 years after Mozart’s death, Beethoven shrugged off tradition — again — and sneaked the trombone into the Fifth. You can barely tell they’re there because Beethoven was sensitive in considering the hallowed tradition around the instrument.

I’m kidding. When the trombones come in (around the 24:45 mark in the video) it is as if Beethoven was saying, “Enough of this precious tradition. I want to hear what these things can do. Now sit there and take it.”

In the video the conductor is Christian Thielemann. Thielemann came up under Herbert von Karajan and is currently one of the names being discussed to inherit the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra when Sir Simon Rattle steps down after this season. Some would consider Thielemann an obvious choice, but the BPO has not been able to reach a consensus.

In simple terms, Thielemann conducts everything "up." The music does not start when his baton drops but when it comes up.

The venue in this first video is the world-famous Musikverein in Vienna.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Oceanside toughens up Harbor Beach

Tighter hours on fire rings, more cops, maybe cameras
Next Article

Tacos and elotes greet Ed Bedford after border walk

The first restaurant you find in Latin America
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader