125 Tracks, 2:33:58
- 01:26On Beethoven's Openings
- 01:45Opening phrase of the 'Pastoral': ood, Symbolism and Musical Function
- 00:43Musical Acorns: the outline of melody; the shape of a question
- 00:05The 'question' in the 'Pastoral' repeated...
- 00:13...and answered
- 00:20The opening phrase ends on a note full of pregnant expectation
- 00:37Starting with a stop
- 00:53The rhythmic profile of the opening phrase; a two-part construction
- 00:09Phrase One, Part One
- 00:06Phrase One, Part Two
- 01:04The properties of rhythmic ambiguity; the 'question' of Phrase One answered
- 00:27Phrase Two: from meander to march
- 00:48The makings of a conversation: contrast and variation
- 00:34Repetition as A Major factor, but it's never mere repetition; each time something new is added
- 00:19From soft to loud and back again; instrumental enrichment from horns and double-basses
- 00:30Mega-repetition: violins play exactly the same little fragment ten times in a row
- 00:35But no two repetitions are quite the same; varieties of contrast
- 00:19More variation: pitch rises; violins joined frist by the clarinet, then by the oboe
- 00:25Return to opening idea, but with new instrumentation and articulation
- 00:49Clarinets, horns, bassoons and flutes now join expansive variation
- 00:09'New' insistent rhythm derived from the first four notes of the piece
- 00:36With the dawn chorus, a whole forest is waking up; feelings of rapture
- 00:32First violins play a derivative of the opening figure, joined by wind and strings
- 00:31Sudden change of key, from the home key (tonic) to the dominant
- 00:56Arrival at the hightly contrasting second main theme
- 02:16Unusual properties of second main theme
- 01:09Rhythmic clash between simultaneous groups of three beats and groups of two
- 00:30winds fall selent as the violins and violas interrupt with a new theme
- 00:51Winds answer with the same morse-like rhythm but at half the speed
- 01:05Crescendo leads to strings' acceleration of the pace with no increase in tempo
- 00:23Beginning of coda, directly based on morse-like rhythm of the main theme
- 00:48Strings reiterate small fragment of the new theme 13 times in a row
- 00:18A simple, rising violin phrase leads to a repeat of the Exposition
- 02:22The nature and function of the Development section in sonata form; 'harmonic' rhythm explained
- 00:35The nature of harmonic rhythm illustrated
- 00:38A typically Beethovenian exercise in the frustration of expectation
- 00:43Repetitiousness and magic effected largely through instrumental colour
- 00:08Then come four, almost identical bars
- 00:29Even greater magic, with sudden switch of key and tone colour
- 01:56Entire Development section up to this point
- 01:23The Development continued
- 02:04Increased unease and suspense as harmonic rhythm accelerates
- 01:50Arrival at the point of Recapitulation; back to the beginning, as a reminder
- 00:51Beginning of Recapitulation
- 01:01More Beethovenian frustrations of expectations which he himself has just set up
- 00:34Harmonic rhythm speeds up, giving the impression of an accent on every beat
- 00:29Prevailing mood restored; new theme from clarinets and bassoons
- 00:48Violins and violas take up theme; horns, cellos, double-basses accompany
- 00:58A hush falls, followed by a return of the movement's most familiar tag in strings
- 00:32Clarinet takes up the running triplet figures of the main closing theme
- 00:38First violins take up the opening phrase again, accompanied by double-basses
- 00:59Beethoven slips in one last surprise; cue to complete movement
- 11:01First movement (complete)
- 02:00General introduction; the birth of a melody
- 01:20Brook music quickens; syncopated horns; theme changes hands; evocation of birdsong
- 00:52The 'motto' theme introduced by violins and treated to round-like overlappings
- 00:40Transitional 'bridge' theme sets off for new key group. But is it? And does it?
- 01:10Will he, or won't he? Beethoven keeps us guessing
- 01:15The run-up to the Second Group
- 00:39Arrival at the Second Group; but where is the actual Second Subject?
- 00:39A new tune is introduced by the bassoon
- 01:01Tune is repeated three times
- 00:45...which the full orchestra now takes up in varied form
- 00:48Theme carried by flutes and first violins in a charmingly waltz-like development
- 00:15A reminder of precedent
- 00:16Back to the prevailing triple-metre with violins, bassoons and flutes
- 00:17Another reminder of precedent...
- 00:38...and a cue to some unexpected departures
- 00:51The transformational magic of Beethoven's 'tone-painting' - and a new varation
- 00:44Conversation of clarinet, flute and oboe on the way to the Development
- 00:39Harmonic movement emphasised by violins; oboe takes up the First Subject
- 01:05Flute and oboe discuss the First Subject, before arriving together at the Transition
- 00:47Gains in volume and intensity lead to a new key-change
- 01:12More thematic transformation through the agency of tone-colour
- 01:40Harmonic fluideity - instability - as the central engine of the Development section
- 01:42Harmonic instability, thematic dissolution increase, then lessen with approach of Recapitulation
- 01:30Recap. and transformation: key and material are right, but what a change of presentation!
- 00:53Just when we know what's coming, Beethoven changes the rules (or at least the harmony)
- 01:20Transformation by reorchestration; switch to long sustained chords; then everything stops
- 00:40The silence is broken by voices of nightingale (flute), quail (oboe) and cuckoo (clarinet)
- 00:12First violins bring back motto theme
- 00:33Cue to complete movement on CD 2
- 12:04Second movement (complete)
- 01:32Beethoven and the Scherzo: an introduction; Part One of opening phrase taken by the strings
- 00:23Immediate response; Part One is answered by a march more singing, continuous legato
- 01:06Entire orchestra gives out opening theme, this time fortissimo and with powerful accents
- 00:33A mustical ball game. The contrast of this and the first two movements could hardly be greater
- 01:19After quietly teasing suspense, Beethoven mocks village band, first the oboe, then the bassoon
- 00:48Clarinet joins in, then horn takes the tune - the dance no longer boisterous but lyrical
- 00:47Strings sweep the village musicians aside and hurtle us into the new, boisterous 'Trio' section
- 01:00The air is alive with the sound of (mock) bagpipes, tambourines and fifes
- 01:18Coda; begins as the movement itself begins, but soon diverges in harmony and instrumentation
- 00:42Original layout compressed; order of events is changed nd Beethoven springs a big surprise
- 05:14Third movement (complete)
- 03:06Unparalled portrait of nature's power over humanity, with some stupendous orchestration
- 01:34Self-generating form and terror of total unpredictability; 'anxiety motif' from the violins
- 00:36The 'lashing rain' motif - downward-driving arpeggios from the first violins and violas
- 00:22The 'lightning' motif, and its recurrnece later in the movement
- 00:13'Rain' motif, derived from descending scale pattern from the violins at the outest
- 00:19Shivering tremolandos from the strings and increasingly eerie harmonies from the wind
- 01:37Steady crescendo in strings; terrifying, downward spelling-out of chords in the violins
- 01:03Extremes of dynamic contrasts; the unsettling, disturbing, undermining effects of chromaticism
- 00:21Abandonment of melody, and most traces even of rhythm; sustained, discordant harmony
- 01:52Storm dispersed, the sun reappears, bathing sodden earth below with its life-giving rays
- 00:10Cue to complete preformance of Fourth Movement
- 03:56Fourth movement (complete)
- 01:00'Yodelling' figure from clarinet, then horn, the violins, who introduce the main theme
- 01:06Details of instrumental magic in the interplay of horns, cellos, clarinets and bassoons
- 01:06Main theme heard three times in a row - and yet never the same way twice
- 00:37Now we get the whole orchestra, playing full out, with violins all double-stopping
- 00:43Transition to the next section, based on the last two notes of the main theme
- 00:38The rhythmic basis of new transition theme, first in violas, then takes up by first violins
- 00:29Another rhythmic details of extended transition comes increasingly into the foreground
- 00:52...and is then heard in expanded version, taken in sequence by the strings, from the top down
- 01:13New phrase, introduced by violins, brings us resoundingly back to the opening material
- 02:16Main theme, re-orchestrated; unexpected drift into another key and a new, gently flowing theme
- 00:58Hints of a return to main theme; long 'pedal point'; running commentary from the violins
- 00:38Main theme returns, but significantly altered, and not entirely intact
- 00:24Running commentary now heard in the middle, with alternating pizzicatos both above and below
- 01:21Part Three of main theme given to entire orchestra, leading to final appearance of Theme two
- 02:09Extended coda; overlapping variations of main theme, rather in the manner of a round
- 00:52Suddenly the scene changes. A variation of the 'running commentary' cited in Tracks 34 and 36
- 02:11The crowning glory, as the Shepherd's Song of Thanksgiving takes on a 'heavenly' magnificence
- 01:10Cue into complete performance of Fifth Movement through the 'gateway' of the Fourth
- 13:47Fourth and Fifth movements (complete)