Beethoven Symphony No 5, in C minor

Sir Lennox Berkeley says:
'Familiarity with such a great classic as Beethoven's fifth symphony makes it difficult for us to imagine the prodigious impact it made on contemporary listeners. Their reaction was not always favourable. To some it seemed the work of a madman; its intensity and violence upset their ideas of what music should be. Others recognised its greatness, but were alarmed by its revolutionary character. In fact, it remains within the rules of symphonic form to a remarkable extent. Its novelty is more in its vehemence than in any technical experiment.'

(Bernard Haitink appears by arrangement with the London Philharmonic Orchestra Ltd)