Da-da-da-dum! Beethoven sales soar
When Beethoven stood up to conduct the first performance of his Fifth Symphony in 1808, he did little to encourage its popularity. While an under-rehearsed orchestra struggled to play the music, the audience, sat in a freezing concert hall, was too cold to care.
But 200 years on, the work is enjoying a revival after an unlikely pair of celebrity conductors directed Ludwig van Beethoven's masterpiece during the BBC's reality television series, Maestro.
Sales of Symphony No 5 in C minor have almost quadrupled since its performance in the final of the series earlier this month. The high street music chain HMV said demand for recordings of the symphony increased by 295 per cent after the two finalists were called on to conduct its opening movement. The public eventually voted the comedian Sue Perkins the winner over the musician and actor Goldie, giving her the chance to conduct an orchestra at the proms in front of 30,000 people.
The sudden rush to buy Beethoven's Fifth has surprised many in the classical music world, as the symphony was already one of the most recognisable pieces in all of Beethoven's work...
Read entire article at Independent (UK)
But 200 years on, the work is enjoying a revival after an unlikely pair of celebrity conductors directed Ludwig van Beethoven's masterpiece during the BBC's reality television series, Maestro.
Sales of Symphony No 5 in C minor have almost quadrupled since its performance in the final of the series earlier this month. The high street music chain HMV said demand for recordings of the symphony increased by 295 per cent after the two finalists were called on to conduct its opening movement. The public eventually voted the comedian Sue Perkins the winner over the musician and actor Goldie, giving her the chance to conduct an orchestra at the proms in front of 30,000 people.
The sudden rush to buy Beethoven's Fifth has surprised many in the classical music world, as the symphony was already one of the most recognisable pieces in all of Beethoven's work...