Beethoven - Symphony 5 [Davis-Staatskapelle Dresden] This is my ongoing listening to this 6 disc boxset, last month i spoke about the Seventh Symphony [4th February 2011], and here the Fifth is his most revolutionary Symphony, the first movement 'jingle' must be Beethoven's most memorable statement, and most daring and inventive too, and such a simple idea, i still marvel at the groundbreaking-ness of this Symphony each time i hear it.
Colin Davis is an English Conductor, now 83 years old, he recorded this Symphony in 1992.
However much i feel that the opening of this Symphony is so glorious, it was the last movement that really thrilled me, it germinates out of the third movement, and without a break explodes into a blaze of fanfare glory [0:00], the brass are resplendent, Beethoven certainly knows how to get the hairs to stand up on the back of your neck!, and he keeps up the adrenaline, the blazing fanfare returns in triumph again [2:06], and everything explodes all over again, a wonderful moment, and then later it all halts into a quiet [5:50], but of course it stutters along as the re-lead in to the Fourth movement all over again, and the explosion returns in triumph yet again [6:34], another magical moment of glory, and towards the end there's these orchestral six hammer blows [9:08], and in the quiet afterwards a solo bassoon, then horn, and then flute are all heard one after the other, also in the closing minutes the piccolo can be heard piping up like something out of Mozart's the Magic Flute, Beethoven really knows how to deliver supreme glory.
Here's Karl Bohm conducting the Fourth movement on YouTube.
