Beethoven Symphony No. 5, Piano Concerto No. 4

Includes Symphony NO. 5 and Piano Concerto No. 4. The work of Ludwig van Beethoven has been called the culmination of the Classical era or the wellspring of the Romantic era in European music. Historians today see him as the heir of Haydn and Mozart, carrying their musical discoveries to a new level of complexity and integration. No composer in the nineteenth century could aspire to the creation of a symphony without taking into account the example of Beethoven. In his Symphony No. 5, Beethoven achieved an unprecedented degree of unity and coherence through the use of a short musical phrase called a "movite" which recurs a number of times throughout the piece. In Piano Concerto No. 4, Beethoven breaks with tradition by beginning with an understated piano solo rather than a substantial orchestral introduction. Each CD package includes two CDs. The first, a Musical Performance Disk, features the top performers and symphony orchestras in the world, performing the best-loved music from the classical music Greats.

Accompanying the Musical Performance Disc is a Conductor's Guide on a separate CD. Here, Maestro Gerard Schwarz discusses the musical performances in depth--movement by movement, section by section--using examples from the recorded performances. There's no better, more enjoyable way to get a basic education in classical music.

You'll also receive a 16-page printed copy of Concert Notes, featuring the unique Music Disc Timeline, which is written to synchronize with the elapsed time display of your CD player. As you play the music on the Performance Disc, you can see exactly where the things that Maestro Schwarz discussed take place in the music. It's like looking into the score--but you don't have to know how to read music!  more