Listening Log - Beethoven - Symphony No. 5 (Proms 2012)

Beethoven - Symphony No. 5 (Proms 2012)

It starts off with a dramatic opening compiled by string instruments such as violins, viola and double bass' (cello). This is a classical piece of music, and this particular track is world renowned for its powerful opening. After around the 12th second of the song, it starts to calm down, before the 20th second where it builds up again, with more of the orchestra playing their instruments. The instruments vein used are still the violin, viola and cello. There is then a high-pitched violin sounding note played for a second or two before the opening sequence is repeated once again in the 25th second, however, with a key change. It is performed in a higher pitch creating a less bolder sold, but still overriding with power. In the Beethoven symphony there are many of the same instrument, playing the same notes, as this would create layers and give the song a fuller feel.

All the instruments that are the same are playing in unison as well as many other instruments playing the same note at the same time. This can be seen at 1:55 with most of the orchestra playing the same notes and then start playing separately again. When at the 1:55 mark the song is homophonic, with all the instruments playing in block chords of the same note together. At 2:05 it then becomes polyphonic with all the instruments playing separate parts that compliment each other. They do this as they are in the same key and play similarly to the other instruments blending well with the whole song.

I think the song was recorded using an omni-directional microphone. This is because the shape of the theatre is designed to have a specific reverb. However this meant that the audience can be heard throughout, such as a person sneezing at 0:17 and the audience coughing and moving about at 8:00. To prevent any of this I would have placed dynamic microphones in front of the groups of performers. The performers were split into the different groups based on what family group their instrument was in. Placing one or two microphones in front of these groups would mean that the recording would have been just of those instruments and there would be minimal disturbances in the recording. However placing the microphones in these positions would mean losing the reverb of the hall.