Who is the conductor and orchestra?

Tempo is a bit fast IMHO. There’s an -etto on that allegro! One should listen to this the way God does, which is the way He listens to “classical” music anyway, in a Furtwaengler conducted performance if available. At the right tempo, the utter inevitability of the Auskomponierung of the motivic material, always characteristic of Beethoven’s music, is just overwhelming.

The bar graphing is really interesting. It reveals in a visual way but without musical notation what musical notation shows in Schenker structural analysis.

At its premiere, the movement was so impressive that the audience demanded an immediate repeat. That premiere was conducted by Beethoven himself, and was a benefit concert for wounded soldiers from the Battle of Hanau, which we lost after winning the Battle of Leipzig against Napoleon, allowing him a successful strategic retreat.

May have had a little something to do with the music composed for the concert.

I agree about the tempo. However, my personal favorite is Bernstein with the Boston Symphony at Tanglewood (his last concert). That is perfection!

Period instrument performances are the best! Christopher Hogwood and the Academy of Ancient Music. Played the way Beethoven intended.

I heard this the first time on television for President Kennedy’s funeral procession. It stuck in my memory for years until I came across it while listening to recordings of all of the Beethoven Symphonies at Music and Art camp. It was like finding an old friend.
The tempo does seem a little fast, but I found it refreshing, too. Better to err a little on the quick side than to entomb a masterpiece with reverential slowness.
The colors of the graph, with the black background were beautiful on full screen mode on my computer. Thank you for posting this.

The music was superb. I did enjoy the visualization, echoes of Fantasia for some reason come to mind. Always reminds me of waterfalls and rushing rapids on a river interspersed with quiet, calm pools of deep cool water.

Best ‘cello countermelody in the literature. @Peter: I like your assessment of Bernstein’s final recording. Your thoughts on the Benjamin Britten included there?

Craig, I forgot about the Britten. Those selections from Grimes are great. I can’t remember the one but the movement that depicts the “dawn” is just incredible. In my opinion Britten was one of the greatest composers of the 20th century. Period.

This Beethoven movement has found its way in to the movies. Dimitri Tiomkin used it in the film score for the 1947 movie “The Long Night”
http://www.screenarchives.com/title_detail.cfm/ID/13407/THE-LONG-NIGHT-1000-EDITION/

It was used in the 1934 movie “The Black Cat”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMWi2Rxmsfs
Just before the above Beethoven scene, the score used Robert Schumann’s Quintet for piano and strings in E flat major, Opus 44, 2nd movement, as Karloff and Lugosi go down in to the basement.