In the third episode of The 5th, we explore how Beethoven’s symphony was used to generate the strict culture of classical music — and the politics that undergird those norms of behavior.

Just imagine being at the premiere of Beethoven’s Fifth in 1808: a concert where the warm-up material was the premiere of the Pastoral. By the time Beethoven stepped up to the podium to conduct ...

The last thing we need is another Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony — unless Teodor Currentzis is conducting. His new recording brings much-needed catharsis.

The opening four notes of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 are the most iconic in all of music. There’s an apocryphal story that Beethoven called those four notes “fate knocking at the door.” ...

Ludwig Van Beethoven performed Symphony No. 5 for the first time in public in Vienna on this day in history, Dec. 22, 1808. It has become perhaps the world's most famous musical composition.

The opening notes of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony are iconic, but Alexander Shelley promises that the piece has much more in store. The next artistic and music director of the Pacific Symphony ...

Ludwig van Beethoven’s well-known Symphony No. 5 was performed by the PSO to cap off a two-hour program of tough-minded music that also reached toward brief moments of hard-won tranquility.