“You take the simplest musical idea. Four notes, and can you make a castle out of four notes? [Beethoven] was fearless….It is simply baffling how imaginative the composer is in using so little….This is the first time the symphony wakes up and is a dramatic essay.”
This is how Leon Botstein, conductor and President of Bard College, describes Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony in a video from our new partner, the All Star Orchestra. And this discussion is only one of five videos on this symphonic masterpiece. In the remaining videos, Gerard Schwartz, conductor of the Emmy-winning All Star Orchestra, walks us through all four movements, even explaining what he is doing as he conducts many of the nation’s most accomplished musicians.
We love the videos that discuss and explain the symphonies by Beethoven, Dvořák, Stravinksy, Ravel and others, but our favorites are probably those that focus on the individual instruments of the orchestra (everything from the violin to the tuba!). Here, leading musicians describe their instrument and what made them fall in love with it. The All Star Orchestra has made it easy for us all to fall in love with classical music, have a look, you may fall in love too.
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Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 Analysis by Gerard Schwarz (Part 1)