Beethoven, Symphony No.5 in C minor, op.67

"A rhapsody of genius" are the words the noted German poet, composer and painter E.T.A. Hoffmann used to describe the Fifth Symphony. One of the best known and most beloved in music literature, it was composed in the years 1804-1807, although sketches for the first three movements date back to 1800. The first performance took place on 22 December 1808 in Vienna with Beethoven conducting. Perhaps the most famous phrase in symphonic music opens the work and dominates the first movement, which then gives way to a set of variations on one long, extended theme in the second movement. The four-note introduction reemerges in the third movement, a Scherzo, with the double bass taking on a tremendous role. Finally, the fourth movement is a magnificent, joyous explosion of music, almost a triumphant march. Leonard Bernstein recorded this work in an all-Beethoven concert with the Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio at Munich's Deutsches Museum in 1976.