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Becoming Beethoven's Fifth

How and why did Beethoven choose to open the most famous piece in classical music with 'ta-ta-ta-taaaaah'? And how did he decide what to do after that? Tom Service seeks answers.

Beethoven 5: one of the most instantly recognisable and enduring works in all classical music. How did Beethoven compose it? How did he whittle down his musical choices from the endless number available to make this seemingly inevitable-sounding, gripping orchestral drama?

For insights into the essence of composition -- how you decide what comes next -- Tom Service talks to one of today's most exciting young composers. Shiva Feshareki explains how she decides one musical path over another in her own work and what choices she has made in her new piece based on a specially recorded performance of the first movement of Beethoven's Fifth.

Part of Radio 3’s Beethoven Remixed project, which offers musicians and non-musicians alike the chance to create their own remixes of Beethoven’s Fifth, using recordings made by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08x4b5z

David Papp (producer)

Available now

30 minutes

Last on

Fri 11 Dec 2020 16:30
BBC Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony no. 5 in C minor Op.67

    Performer: BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony no. 5 in C minor Op.67

    Performer: BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Beethoven Symphony No. 5 Rap Hip Hop Remix 2

    Performer: Unknown.

  • Walter Murphy

    A Fifth of Beethoven for a capella choir

    Performer: Walter Murphy.
    • KENWEST MUSIC.
    • KNEWCD-735.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Beethoven Symphony No. 5 (rock version)

    Music Arranger: Cloud9. Music Arranger: ThirdWave. Performer: behimo.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    V for Victory

    Performer: Unknown Artist.

  • Charles Ives

    Sonata no. 2 K.X.19 (Concord) for piano

    Performer: Pierre‐Laurent Aimard.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 2564602972.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Beethoven 5 remix

    Composer: Shiva Feshareki. Performer: Shiva Feshareki.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony no. 5 in C minor Op.67

    Performer: BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Beethoven 5 remix

    Composer: Shiva Feshareki. Performer: Shiva Feshareki.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony no. 5 in C minor Op.67

    Performer: BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony no. 5 in C minor Op.67

    Performer: BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony no. 5 in C minor Op.67

    Performer: BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony no. 5 in C minor Op.67

    Performer: BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Bernstein talks 'How a Great Symphony was Written'

    Conductor: Leonard Bernstein. Performer: New York Philharmonic.
    • Sony.
    • G010003713942S.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Bernstein talks 'How a Great Symphony was Written'

    Conductor: Leonard Bernstein. Performer: New York Philharmonic.
    • Sony.
    • G010003713942S.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony no. 5 in C minor Op.67

    Performer: BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Bernstein talks 'How a Great Symphony was Written'

    Conductor: Leonard Bernstein. Performer: New York Philharmonic.
    • Sony.
    • G010003713942S.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Beethoven 5 remix

    Composer: Shiva Feshareki. Performer: Shiva Feshareki.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony no. 5 in C minor Op.67

    Conductor: Carlos Kleiber. Performer: Vienna Philharmonic.
    • DG.
    • 4474002.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony no. 5 in C minor Op.67

    Conductor: Carlos Kleiber. Performer: Vienna Philharmonic.
    • DG.
    • 4474002.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony no. 5 in C minor Op.67

    Conductor: Carlos Kleiber. Performer: Vienna Philharmonic.
    • DG.
    • 4474002.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony no. 5 in C minor Op.67

    Conductor: Nikolaus Harnoncourt. Performer: Chamber Orchestra of Europe.
    • Teldec.
    • 0927497682.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony no. 5 in C minor Op.67

    Conductor: Carlos Kleiber. Performer: Vienna Philharmonic.
    • DG.
    • 4474002.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony no. 5 in C minor Op.67

    Conductor: Carlos Kleiber. Performer: Vienna Philharmonic.
    • DG.
    • 4474002.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony no. 5 in C minor Op.67

    Performer: BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 6 Dec 2020 17:00
    BBC Radio 3
  • Fri 11 Dec 2020 16:30
    BBC Radio 3

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